The inverted-pyramid style of journalism calls for the first paragraph of a story to cover the most important ground. For me, that would be an expression of my sincerest gratitude to my parents for shelling out $151,472.48, payable to Georgetown University, to give me four of the best years of my life.

Most of the senior viewpoints I’ve seen in the last four years have been either boring or campy. Therefore, the rest of my viewpoint will contain snippets of wisdom I’ve gained at Georgetown – the perfect size for my attention span.

One of life’s greatest pleasures is to hang out in a place where everyone is extremely busy and you are not. The Capitol Building, Disney World and any airport are all perfect.

Immaturity, goofing-off and free time are disappearing from our society at an alarming rate.

It is much better to know a little about a lot than a lot about a little even if you’re not on a game show. Try to reach the point where you can have a five-minute conversation with anybody about anything.

John McGroarty (COL ’07) is the nicest person I’ve met at Georgetown.

The world would be a much better place if everyone understood basic economics and how it explains people’s personal incentives and behavior.

The best class at Georgetown is Theology After Freud taught by Prof. Terrence Reynolds.

Few things can teach you about life as well as the game of poker. You quickly learn to accept a balance of short-term luck and long-term skill, read other people and accept that everyone who comes to the table has an equal opportunity and must play by the same rules. It is also almost impossible to prevent your true emotions from coming out at the poker table.

If you’re at Georgetown but most of your friends from home go to a state school, you are almost assuredly a good person. If not, it’s actually very likely that you’re a jerk.

Listening is one of the most important skills you can have. It is hard to learn anything when your mouth is open, and if you are talking to someone, speak with them and not at them.

Long-distance relationships can be a blessing.

It’s okay to offend people because if you do it right, they will be forced to start thinking. If not, it was probably fun anyway.

Taking pass/fail classes is a wonderful idea. Grades don’t mean what they need to, aren’t earned the way they should be, and won’t matter three years from now anyway. Most of the biggest tests in life – including the one at the end – are pass/fail anyway.

Becoming as self-aware as possible should be one of your most important goals in life.

Just because something is free doesn’t mean that it’s worth it because of the time you waste doing it, including standing in ridiculously long lines for food.

Just because something is your favorite does not mean it is the best.

Take about 85 percent of the people you know, and then stop caring what they think about you because it doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter if you aren’t good at a hobby as long as you enjoy doing it, but it is dangerous to extend this principle to other areas of life.

Most things in life happen for a really good reason even if you are not immediately aware of it.

I will conclude with a quote from Blaise Pascal, about whom I know nothing but these words: “The sole cause of a man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.”

Eric Rodawig is a senior in the college. He is a former viewpoint editor, contributing editor and member of editorial board at THE HOYA.