The other day I was mindlessly watching a TV show with no intention of thinking about school, but that quickly changed. One of the characters mentioned that she decided to get a degree in communications because it was the “easiest degree to get.” My heart sank because here I am this whole time thinking I’m doing big things; going to college, doing well in my classes, and getting a good degree, but now I am questioning my entire college career.

I continued to stress over the statement the fictional character made for the remainder of the episode and into the next day. And after some serious evaluation, I still had this feeling that maybe I really had taken the “easy way out.”

I began to think maybe I should reconsider what I was doing and find something more fulfilling and challenging to pursue in hopes I would be making my college career more worthwhile. But then something occurred to me that changed my mind.

Communicating is hard. Communicating is so hard to do that if it isn’t used in the correct way it can end relationships, destroy reputations, cause wars, kill people, and honestly, the list goes on. But if communication is used properly, it can do the opposite of all of those terrible things.

Let’s be honest: not everyone knows how to communicate properly or understands that there are several different ways to communicate. There was a whole science behind communicating, but because people use it in their day-to-day lives, it seems like anyone could do it. Of course, that would definitely make it seem like becoming a communication major was the easiest thing on Earth.

Yeah, my classes aren’t as grueling as that of a chemistry, engineering, political science or nursing major, but my degree is just as important because fields listed above require communication to function. Without someone like me to help with the businesses and services that those majors need, they would have a hard time doing well.

My degree is one of the more general degrees and a lot of people with other degrees could go after the jobs that I may want, but the question is can they do it well and do they understand how tricky communication can be? Not just anyone can know what to say and when to say it, or how to write an objective news article, or how to recover the reputation of a multi-million-dollar company, but thanks to my degree in communications, I just might have the opportunity and ability to do so.

So, to the actress that spoke the line that made me question the thousands of dollars and four years worth of time put into my communications degree, I would like to say thank you for making me appreciate what I am doing. Also, keep my name in mind for when you screw up and you need my awesome communication skills to clean up your reputation. I may or may not decide to help.