There is no greater time to be informed about current events than today’s day and age.

Now more than ever is there a dire need to stay up to date with current news because of the ever present connection that every individual on this planet has with one another thanks to social media.

Despite this necessity to stay informed, I have unfortunately realized that more and more of my fellow peers are left to rot on the side of a garbage lined road.

However, they were not entirely abandoned it was not until they decided to open the car door and jump out did the rest of society label them as a lost cause.

Being uniformed when it comes to current events is like turning a blind eye to a brutal assault on your neighbor.

We choose to look away.

It could be because of priorities.

Priorities vary and it is difficult to juggle schoolwork, volunteer work and actual work all while maintaining a somewhat adequate social life.

Still, deep in the bowels of social media rest endless amounts of information that we are exposed to day in and day out.

However between finishing homework and tweeting about the latest celebrity gossip that does not apply to real time we neglect to filter what is truly relevant to our lives.

That is, we scroll past the important outlets of information that are happening at this very moment and that can potentially alter our way of life or our very existence.

There is no reason to be uniformed about the latest world crisis because it is there right in the open for the American population to see.

Yet, individuals continue to build barricades that could block out even the greatest of armies.

There was a time in my life when I refused to watch the news.

After my brother shook hands with Uncle Sam, I denied myself any access to current information because I knew that my brother faced the possibility of fighting those very same problems that plague the world we live in.

After an attempt to shelter myself from the news because I feared the inevitable, it became clear that if I did not know what was going on I was not only abandoning my right to know, I was depriving myself the opportunity to offer a solution and try to make a change.

We are all united and by being connected with the rest of the world we have the power to help.

A million voices are louder than a thousand and the more people know the louder the voice for change will be.

Analicia Haynes is a freshman journalism major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]