YOLO: What's Wrong with It?
Yung Lee
ENG 3UI
Mr. Steiner
Feb 20th, 2013
The Ignorant Motto
The day we had 30cm of snow, a couple of my friends and I were itching to get outside and make the best of our snow-day. Traveling up the highway was treacherous as the snow was barely cleared, creating a sheet of white along the road. When we reached the top of the hill, the north wind slapped our cheeks with coldness and heavy snow blinded our vision. Despite the bleakness, one by one, we sped down as if we were escaping from the engulfment of an enormous avalanche. The last daring member of our group shouted, “YOLO!!” and made it for the ramp and flew into the oblivion.
“YOLO” is typical acronym, internet slang, meaning “You Only Live Once.” Like all other internet vocabularies, there is no clear origin, but rapper Drake popularized this term through his song, “The Motto.” He sings, “You only live once: that’s the motto, YOLO.” The message here is clear that in our journey of life, there is only one end, so we should put ourselves in challenge to live our lives to the fullest potential.
Having such a seemingly profound message, one might ask, “What’s wrong with saying YOLO?” My real concern is due to the inane interpretation of this commonly used catchphrase. I understand that it can be a ‘cool’ and alluring term where one can spit out to conform to the majority. Unfortunately, most people have a perverted and distorted notion of YOLO. Due to its simplicity, the “YOLOers” think that this term can be used as a simple excuse –I’m doing this because I want to live my life –to their thoughtless action. Moreover, it is used so often that it has reached to the point where it can be used as a verbal filler to explain any type of our personal experience: “I failed my math exam, YOLO”, “I’m going to smoke, YOLO.”
As a human being, our natural tendency is to be happy from knowing that every action we do is meaningful
ENG 3UI
Mr. Steiner
Feb 20th, 2013
The Ignorant Motto
The day we had 30cm of snow, a couple of my friends and I were itching to get outside and make the best of our snow-day. Traveling up the highway was treacherous as the snow was barely cleared, creating a sheet of white along the road. When we reached the top of the hill, the north wind slapped our cheeks with coldness and heavy snow blinded our vision. Despite the bleakness, one by one, we sped down as if we were escaping from the engulfment of an enormous avalanche. The last daring member of our group shouted, “YOLO!!” and made it for the ramp and flew into the oblivion.
“YOLO” is typical acronym, internet slang, meaning “You Only Live Once.” Like all other internet vocabularies, there is no clear origin, but rapper Drake popularized this term through his song, “The Motto.” He sings, “You only live once: that’s the motto, YOLO.” The message here is clear that in our journey of life, there is only one end, so we should put ourselves in challenge to live our lives to the fullest potential.
Having such a seemingly profound message, one might ask, “What’s wrong with saying YOLO?” My real concern is due to the inane interpretation of this commonly used catchphrase. I understand that it can be a ‘cool’ and alluring term where one can spit out to conform to the majority. Unfortunately, most people have a perverted and distorted notion of YOLO. Due to its simplicity, the “YOLOers” think that this term can be used as a simple excuse –I’m doing this because I want to live my life –to their thoughtless action. Moreover, it is used so often that it has reached to the point where it can be used as a verbal filler to explain any type of our personal experience: “I failed my math exam, YOLO”, “I’m going to smoke, YOLO.”
As a human being, our natural tendency is to be happy from knowing that every action we do is meaningful
Cited: Taylor, Matt. "Why YOLO May Be Killing You." Live Abundantly RSS. Liveabundantly, 9 Feb. 2013. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.< http://liveabundantly.ca/why-yolo-may-be-killing-you/> Golgowski, Nina. "Rapper Tweets YOLO before Dying in Horror 'drink-drive ' Crash." Mail Online. Globe and Mail, 12 Sept. 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.< http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2202399/Ervin-McKinness-Rapper-Inkyy-Jewelz-tweets-YOLO-moments-dying-fiery-DUI-crash.html>