It baffles me to know that the third World War can start any time in the up-coming years, or even months. I mean, World War III, yet still, I’m stuck at the Gap making what I consider to be a tough decision between faded jeans or the ripped jeans.

It never ceases to surprise me on how little I know on what’s currently going on in the world. Sure, I’ve heard of the war that’s currently going on in Iraq, but also, I heard on how this new Justin Timberlake CD has come out, and it’s supposed to be really good.

I mean seriously, there is a war going on, and all people care about is their Myspace and if they’ve gotten any new messages or new friend request.

But in reality, it scares me that I’m not informed about anything. I work full time in a pretty busy job, I go to school in the mornings and on my days off, well, they are my days off. In between, I don’t have much time to turn on the television and watch the news. I especially don’t have time to grab a newspaper and sit down and actually read on current events.

My television doesn’t even have an antenna, and I can’t afford cable. The only reason I have it is because it co-exists in harmony with my DVD player, my Play Station 2 and my Nintendo Gamecube.

So when I heard my fellow City Times co-workers having a rather heated discussion on how there is a possibility of World War III and maybe even a possible draft, I was in pure and utter shock.
I knew things were bad, but I just didn’t realize how bad they actually were. Thinking about it, we still have hundreds of troops fighting in Iraq. And honestly, I seriously still, to this very day, don’t know why our troops are still over there.
All these thoughts came to me when I was trying to decide whether I wanted to get the faded jeans or the ripped ones at the Gap. And then it hit me, I can’t believe that picking between two jeans is much more important than knowing of a possible World War III.

But I realize now that I’m not really alone in that realization .
I walk through campus and see how everyone is in their own little world. People have more important things going on, and don’t have much time to even consider worrying about politics.

Walking through campus, I hear how this guy wants to get another tattoo. How this girl’s boyfriend cheated on her with some other girl, and how all this is much more important than some war going on in some foreign land.

We’re all busy people, too busy to realize that the clock is ticking. Too busy to realize that nuclear war can start anytime in the up coming years, and we aren’t all too informed about it.

Yet, life goes on, and I decided to pick both jeans instead of just one or the other . I mean, I only live once, right?

(Luis Bahena is City Times’ opinion editor)