A week ago, I was enjoying the night with a cigar and a conversation with my roommate. The subject was women, and like most men on campus we had no clue what we were talking about. In fact, I got to thinking that when it comes to advice from friends, do we ever really find the truth? In my mind the answer is no. We simply get stories of similar situations or even educated guesses. Like my friend Nora Premo once wrote, “My friends became my perverted Apostles, each with scriptures of their own.”

I mean, aren’t our friends in the same seat as we are? Aren’t they also trying to guess the next line in the movie? Or posting on Facebook, “why does life sucks”? Or “how can people be so immature”? (It’s a college full of males—get used to it.)

The best we can offer each other is an educated guess, like telling someone to guess C on a test. However, that only gets one so far. How often does one get the same answer from two different friends? That’s why I would like to make the argument that this is not only the generation of debt, but also the generation of educated guessing. Together we will stumble and trip through life learning from our friends with their simultaneous lack and plethora of knowledge.

How rare is it for someone to search out an answer without turning to a friend for advice? (Unless Google has an answer.) In short, my roommate and I are idiots for thinking the other one has the answer that solves the mystery of women. Then again, I am just a chemist, and this is just an opinion.

Mark Grunwald

Chemistry