Shawn Wozniak's column on the evils of our culture was tragic ("TV teaches people to value material wealth, not humanity" SN 2/13). Somehow, he has managed to spin the solid principle of love into a hyperbolic tirade against individuality.

Wozniak is completely out of touch with his audience. He cries out against luxurious living, asserting that "... it is wrong if you are buying any luxury if the needs of other people in the world still are not being met." A noble stance, but Wozniak forgets that he's writing to college students.

We come to college because we seek something more than the bare minimum. We want freedom to choose what to do with our lives. We seek to study what appeals to our minds, work at jobs that nourish our souls and retire to finish our lives with those closest to our hearts.

Though the freedom we have is a fantasy to many, we would be fools to give it up and we would be utter idiots to let our empathy for the starving turn into loathing for the well-fed. If we are truly blessed by the God of whom Wozniak speaks, then our first task is to cultivate our blessings - not to burn them at the altar of self-hatred.

Wozniak's got one thing right: None of us is any more important than any other. But it goes both ways. Will I strive to appreciate the unique humanity of everyone I meet? Of course. Will I immolate myself so that the world's forgotten ones can live for one more suffering moment? Never.

Duke Greene
jazz studies freshman