What is unsettling about almost is that it feels alive. It sits between reality and fantasy, both possible and lost at once. We replay it in our minds not as something over but as something suspended and frozen, waiting for us to admit we let it slip.

Just blocks from campus, Wacoans live without a place to stay, asking for money on the corner of every popular grease pit location. All the while, one of the state’s largest universities hasn’t done much to drive change.

If I were still carrying a TPUSA title, what happened on April 22 would have been enough for me to walk away. You don’t fight for free speech by banning student journalists. You don’t build a movement by turning away supporters who drove hours to be there. And you don’t honor Charlie Kirk’s legacy mocking fellow students in a half-empty room.

If the majority of your principles as a voter align more closely with one side or the other, failing to vote with that party is not only throwing away one of our most important rights as Americans, but it is also helping the people you disagree with win.

As we near the end of the year and move out of or into a new place, I wanted to share a reminder that we don’t need to buy everything new. It’s okay to not have all the latest and greatest things. Keeping up with the Joneses is all fun and games until it runs you into the ground.

For some students, figuring it out later could mean taking an interesting class or switching their majors a few times. For others, it means risking financial aid, wasting time or choosing between passion and stability. These are not the same situation.