Word: clinging
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...innate desire to find something in oneself that validates existence amidst genius. For some, it’s the raw intellectual horsepower. For others, it’s the ability to navigate complex social hierarchies, to read men instinctively. For yet others, it’s the ability to cling to morals when others toss theirs aside. Maybe it’s just having the right combination of all the above. To justify one’s presence at the most selective college in the country, everybody needs something—something to set them apart from the crowd...
...smartest, some of the most talented, some of the wealthiest (but perhaps not some of the best-looking) young people in the country. Somehow in the struggle to cope with all the talent and prestige, with the sliding scale of relative happiness in constant flux, we criticize. We cling to the thing about ourselves we find distinctive. We fear so passionately that somebody might have everything—brains, looks, social connections, a sense of humor—that we tear down and pick apart. Nobody should have a beach house in Antigua and a summa thesis. Nobody should...
...soldiers, it’s important to be able to communicate with peoples of seemingly different worlds. Parker said effective battlefield diplomats are those who could walk into a bar and strike up a conversation, rather than cling to the wall...
...democracy. During Obama's inaugural speech in January, China's state television cut away when the president referred to previous American generations that had faced down communism. The line that followed was also edited from television broadcasts and from transcripts on many Chinese news portals: "To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist...
However cynical and even “ironically detached” our generation has become, we still cling to the notion that somewhere out there, maybe lurking in the dark behind some building, is the right person for everyone. But how do you find this person? As David Brooks and the FMLers might argue, the system we have going doesn’t seem to be doing an optimal job, and it’s certainly running up our texting bills. Out of this frustration emerges the hook up culture, where that old saying about cows and milk has been...