[have we lost ourselves?]

It's VEISHEA. The tradition Iowa State is known for. The supposed essence of everything it means to be a Cyclone. The event some students spend an entire year preparing for. But instead of being stoked to celebrate, a huge part of me would rather just spend quality time with close friends, especially when I'm constantly reminded that life is short.

In the last two weeks three people died much too soon and one was finally found dead after missing for almost three months. 28, 46, 22 and 22 were their ages. Two were freak medical things. One was an accident. One is yet to be determined. They had plans. They had dreams. They had things they wanted to do, places they wanted to see and goals they wanted to accomplish. They had friends and family that never got to say goodbye. One was a dad. Two others were ISU students. The fourth was recently married.

And I didn't have to know them to be impacted. I know people close to them, and sometimes that's all it takes to hit you in the gut and remind you that life is not a guarantee and the end of it on this earth can come with no warning.

I think this realization is what makes VEISHEA all the more trivial, too. Because you start to wonder why we even get wrapped up in all of this when it won't really matter in the end. Heck, it may not even matter by Monday. The stories will be stale by next week, and the trashed campus will be picked up quickly to carry on with everything that means finals.

And I can't help but ask myself one question as we prepare to watch drunken madness unfold for the next two days - "We were meant to live for so much more. Have we lost ourselves?" It's the chorus of a Switchfoot song, and I think it's an honest thing to ask.

I've had my share of VEISHEA. I've tried it. I've been to the parties. I've had my "taste". But when I take a step back and really look at what is supposed to be a "celebration" of ISU, I can't help but question if we've lost that and maybe ourselves in the process.