Either you are supporting yourself through college, as I did, worked hard for a well-earned scholarship, or just simply became lucky that you had parents with enough bread they could put you through four or five years of a higher education. In any event, your exciting journey in college has begun.

But you should be aware that things today are not as simple as they were when I graduated from college in Kentucky in the mid 60s. You see, many of you are required today to set your own rules of conduct and morals. In contrast, my generation pretty much had boundaries that were already set in stone for us ahead of time.

In other words, we were somewhat protected until we were old enough to handle it . . . or at least taught to realize when we were getting close to dangerous deep waters. We had "Where the Boys Are." You have "Girls Gone Wild." This is an important point, because until one gets into their late 20s when life finally settles down to a reasonable pace, one really cannot understand how critical it is to personally make a lot of right decisions, and to make them right now!

Don't get me wrong. I had my fun in college. Three of us guys had helped build a cabin that we later rented on the Kentucky Lakes in our junior year, the Men's Dean of our university taking a different view saying we were out there sinning on Sunday mornings with young women. My friend told the dean there was only Dave's German Shepherd and no one messed with him on Sunday mornings.

I was from Florida, Dave was from Ohio, and Nick was from New Jersey. We had girlfriends, too, and I remember times we really did some stupid things while at drive-in movies. I know typewriters, phonographs, eight-track tapes, reel-to-reel stereo recorders, and drive-in movies have little if any meaning for most of you today. When we were in college there was also the once-a-year panty raids. Today's campuses have become so liberal you don't need raids today, as many live in shared dorms and don't need to search far to find them laying around on the floor.

But something we never had access to, that your generation has access to, is unrestrictive sexual freedom, which I understand is literally eating college populations alive . . . stuff I'm reading and hearing about out-of-sync with the looking forward to an enjoyable future. Is self-destruction replacing self-determination?

Several college professors have said they are concerned about what is happening on their college campuses today . . . that STDs are now rampant. It has become so bad with teenagers that The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that half of today's teens will have an STD when they reach 25-years of age. That is just frightening for America . . . future leaders being medically compromised for life, not to mention the tremendous pressure it's putting on today's medical superstructure, forget ten years from now. An STD is like an antitheses to freedom, or did I miss something in philosophy class?

When college is over, young adults with degrees are going to search out jobs that match their skills for the best jobs . . . and then gradually settle down. It will then not be long before parents are going to be looking for grandchildren. That's when an STD will complicate life just when it's not wanted.

In college in the 1960s, we had never heard or used the term STD. We only knew of STP, an oil additive you purchased for your engine oil to help your hot rod run smoother. And no one in class needed to put a condom over a banana to know how to use it. That would have been seen as just stupid and plain weird back then, a time when girls were girls and boys were boys. Today you have a place to write in "other." And you think you live in better times?

But this new human STD of your generation is a very different and even dangerous phenomenon for the future of America's younger generation. Today's students must be aware that they could have an STD now and not even know it! STDs can also cause early cervical cancer in women and lead to AIDS for anyone who is now infected. There are even STDs that cannot be cured, one where you're skin breaks out and anyone with an open sore touching you can contact the disease . . . forever.

Check out this excellent STD chart provided by a Chicago network television station. This is all just a bummer at a time when you're life after college is just getting started and you're thinking about maybe marriage or later having children. Then there is the expensive medication one will need to ingest for the rest of their life for this STD, not to mention the sores that are going to be just plain ugly if one can afford to control them. The virus stays within the blood stream infecting others as long as one continues to have sexual relation with those who are not infected. It is why today the CDC is calling this an epidemic. Condoms will only protect from an STD if one never touches the other partner. Of course that is never possible during sexual intercourse.

Things are already changing because of this . . . that people will probably need to arrange to have their own blood stored for personal medical emergencies. And if already infected, not only can't one contribute to the blood supply, but with fewer people giving non-infected blood there are shortages already predicted. The future is going to be very complicated for this younger generation, and sadly it didn't have to be.In closing and when you're out for that good time, please remember it really isn't always going to be a good time that one is going to remember.

Make good decisions today so excess baggage isn't carried around later. Life's going to be hard enough without it. Consider as you mature changing the world to make it a better place for you and your unborn children. If you don't do it for anyone else, do it at least for them. Living boils down to choices that are made every minute of every day that will impact directly on the quality of life you will live the rest of your life.To help you, I have provided links below to Web sites for the American Social Health Association (ASHA) and the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta (CDC) on STDs.

These sites will help you understand the seriousness of what is happening to your generation. The third link is for those that are already infected, a dating service called "positivesingles" . . . for those singles that have already tested positive for an STD and want to go on with their lives without hurting others.I hope this has helped, because there are those out there who really care about you and your future.

Peace.