I could use this column to tell you how much I love Gainesville and the surrounding areas — places where you can swim in a cave at Devil’s Den, join the drunken zoo that is Midtown or watch thousands of bats fly into the sunset at UF’s Bat Barn and Bat House.
I could tell you about my two years at UF, a place that endowed me with many keys to success (shoutout to DJ Khaled, despite his sad performance at Big Orange Festival).
However, with graduation in less than a week, and with time to reflect on my experiences as a Gator and an Alligator crime reporter, metro editor and editor-in-chief, I feel there is more I could share with you, our dear readers.
Lately, I have noticed a common theme in the world. It wasn’t so obvious when I spent much of my time avoiding serious injury during weekend antics at Florida Gulf Coast University, or even when I, somehow, enrolled at UF.
As I progressed in Gainesville and put more energy into becoming a journalist, I was thrust into the public sphere. That’s when I noticed a theme that permeates our society: blame.
Professors in UF’s College of Journalism and Communications are a harsh bunch, as they should be. These are people who truly believe skilled journalists are an important component of a well-functioning democracy.
Still, some students blame the professors for their own failures. While I had one instructor who I believe should re-evaluate his or her teaching methods and, quite frankly, his or her attitude, I stayed strong and did everything possible to pass.
Some of my peers did not pass, and some believed it was the result of an instructor whom they called sexist, incompetent, spiteful, etc.
When I earned my first job at the Alligator, the editors would sometimes change my articles so much they were barely recognizable in the end. “They don’t get it,” I would start to think, blaming them for being picky when I actually needed to improve — a lot.
If you can’t relate to journalism drama, then just look to the current presidential election. It’s hard to go one day without hearing someone blame their peers for simply being a democrat or republican.
As someone who has written and edited hundreds of articles, and whose email is readily found online, I have received more than enough messages blaming “the media” for being downright evil.
I’m here to tell you, dear readers, that we can all do better. Professors aren’t plotting your demise at the dinner table, the Alligator isn’t drafting some sinister agenda at its meetings and your neighbor’s political beliefs aren’t pulling us into an inevitable apocalypse.
I can tell you we at the Alligator make regular mistakes, some larger than others, and that doesn’t mean we don’t care. In fact, even a misplaced comma in a sentence or a missing letter in someone’s name is enough to keep us up at night.
Sometimes it’s hard to remember the people around us are all completely human, and their faults don’t take away from that.
How often do we sit down and consider why a goal hasn’t been reached? How often do we harshly criticize others while offering no real advice or perspective? How often do we call or email someone to express our concerns about an issue? And how often do we even research an issue or seek an expert opinion before offering our criticisms?
Instead of always blaming others, let’s first take a look at ourselves and decide whether we’re part of the solution.
John Dickinson said it best in his “Liberty Song”:
“Then join in hand, brave Americans all. By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.”
Giuseppe Sabella is the editor-in-chief of the Alligator.
