Well, here we are at the end. This is it for this year. No more Woody until next August. I am sure many of you are sighing your sighs of relief. It has been a ride. Since the beginning I have tackled what seems like a random collection of issues ranging from the corruption of George W. Bush’s gubernatorial office, to capital punishment here in Missouri, to torture and oppression in Latin America, to the joys of the religion of baseball. They may seem disjointed or thrown together. Many have asked for apologies for the stances I have taken, while others scream, “Hell, yeah.” But I really haven’t done any of this to see how many people I could tick off in nine months. And all this isn’t really random.

The greatest reason I do this job is that I hear about things: happy things, sad things, scary things, and horrible things.Some of these things create a reaction in me. I get angry or excited.

It isn’t natural for me just to settle for that. I really want people to know what I just learned about. I think other people need to know. And yes, I pick what I write about. That is the benefit of being a column writer. I can pretty much talk about whatever I want. So if you feel that I seem to be coming from a particular point of view in most of my column, you are probably right. These topics are the ones that get me riled up.

But I haven’t been attempting to brainwash the campus to attempt some kind of Pinky-and-the-Brain plot to take over the school by aligning everyone’s opinions with mine. I just tell you what I think. If you agree, well, hopefully you find something in what I write that will help you get out of your chair and do something. If you don’t agree with it, then don’t agree with it. Write me dissenting, hate-mail letters. If you do this though, don’t use arguments like, “You need an educational lobotomy,” or “You are evil.” You see, I am not sure what an educational lobotomy is, and I am sure that I will not be receiving one. And if I truly am evil, I am sure one of the Jesuits will discover this and properly exorcise me, but until then, I am acting under the impression that I am not a mouthpiece for Satan ( I don’t want to hear it, James Harris).

And I know that all this sounds rather self-absorbed and vain. But I don’t think it is. I believe that what I do is important. I believe that a big part of Jesuit education is actually education, and I am really down with the principle of “magis,” which in Jesuit language (also in Latin) means “more,” as in, we should always strive to learn more, or to do more, or to be more. I hope that some of the stuff I have talked about is new to most people. Don’t dismiss it as some crazy guy rambling on about crazy stuff. It’s real. I guarantee it. And some of it is horrible, and therefore we should try and do “more” with the added info. And if you don’t think so, then throw the dang paper away, after you still read it. Then you still have it in your head and now my job is done.

If you read it, you got it, and you have an opinion on it. I can go home and live in peace, unless you are so ticked off that you write scary messages on my board asking for my death. This, by the way, would not be cool.

So as we end one year, and pause before doing this all over again, I just wanted to clear up some misconceptions. I don’t hate all Republicans, I just disagree with what they think is best for the nation. Besides, if they didn’t exist, there would be no nation. I am a pacifist, but don’t hate people in ROTC. I don’t think war is always the best answer, but I also don’t think we should all just strip down to nothing and run around loving everyone until our existence is eradicated. I don’t eat granola.

I think that Catholic Church can be better, and SLU can be more Jesuit. If these premises were not true, then we would all be in heaven, or tuition to “the perfect educational institution” would be much, much higher. I have enjoyed doing this and will do it again. If you think that I need to be stopped, then come to the U.News office, and write in the space next to me.

Thank you all for letting me share my thoughts with you this year. Hope you have at least spent a couple of seconds thinking about them before moving on with your life. Now, if you will all excuse me, I have a lot of baseball games to go to. So, goodbye; see you next year.