But so often we don't know what's going on in the world around us. Few college students are well-informed about this nation's news, and even fewer know what's happening beyond our borders.

This is a luxury we cannot afford.

Before Sept. 11, being uninformed was bad enough, but now, especially with the situation about to explode in the Middle East, it is totally unacceptable that we don't know what the world is doing.

With the Internet and instant communication our borders are now more connected than ever. Egypt is only a nanosecond away with e-mail, and its decisions affect you at the gas pump.

Remember the Microsoft.Net commercial with the wine bottles?

There's only one degree of separation.

I am as bad as the next person when it comes to convenient excuses.

Who has time to read the newspaper when you have learn how to find the limit at infinity? Or what about those 150 pages of history reading due tomorrow at 9 a.m.?

That's a good point, but the events of today are the history of tomorrow, as a journalism guru once said.

We attend a liberal arts university, which means that when we leave these hallowed halls of higher learning we will have a broad knowledge of all academic fields.

Well that's just great, but we won't be much use when we're clueless about the real world, and we'll look like fools when we're standing around the office water cooler and have to ask, "What Palestinian state? Where will we fit that 51st star on the flag?"

Literature, history and, yes, even philosophy, are important to know, but they will do us no good if we cannot apply the knowledge to our current world. We need to stay informed.

Surprisingly enough, it's not as hard as it sounds. For example, The New York Times will e-mail you the day's headlines for free.

It only takes a minute to get a general summary of the most important news, and www.nytimes.com offers just about everything the print edition has, without getting your hands dirty.

The Old Gold & Black Web site also offers updated news links at ogb.wfu.edu, as does the university homepage at www.wfu.edu.

Or, if you're not into more reading, there's always CNN. Turn it on for in the morning before class while you're getting dressed or at night before bed.

And National Public Radio offers in-depth news coverage at 88.5 WFDD. I recently had to follow it for a journalism class and was surprised by how entertaining and informative it can be.

It's not always easy to stay on top of things, but it's not difficult to at least have a basic grasp of the world's news. Being well-informed has its benefits and makes up for the required effort.

You'll be surprised at how things start to make a lot more sense when you know the news behind them, and you may even be inspired to take action when you learn about something you'd like to change.

A democracy requires the participation of its citizens, but how can we participate if we don't know what's happening?

Sometimes, news is even entertaining.

For example, today I learned from The New York Times that a new national study says cousins can safely have children together (though risks do significantly increase).

Hey, it provided a few good West Virginia jokes if nothing else.

And if that's not enough incentive to pick up a paper, remember the editorial cartoons will become a lot more entertaining if you know the news behind them -- just look at the one in this week's issue of Bush choking on the Mid East crisis pretzel.

From the superficial to the dramatic, the world's events affect our daily lives, and we must keep up with the news.

So, if you're reading this paper, that's an excellent start. Keep it up and remember to tune in to CNN or pick up a New York Times for more information.