Call me a creep, but sometimes I just like to sit back and watch people. Admit it, you do, too. I have a two and a half hour break between classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and as I sit in one of the legendary comfy chairs of the Woodbury Campus Center, I can’t help but be distracted from my reading of dead writers of enduring merit to watch the tide of midday traffic.
Students and staff coming and going, going and coming, sometimes in swells, other times in trickles. Almost always moving, like some sort of perpetual motion. Assignments, deadlines, due dates, and times of meeting motivate us. How rare is it to have a moment to catch your breath?
But if September 11 taught us anything, it should be the importance of just that. All too often we are tugged to and fro in our lives like driftwood in a current. I say we take our lives back. Sure, due dates are always going to be there, but we should take control of our responsibilities, not let them control us. We should look over our lives and really think about what we’re doing. Pretend you just had a near death experience. Pretend you’re going to die tomorrow. How much of your day just became devastatingly trivial?
Here’s a suggestion that will never be trivial: make up your mind to introduce yourself to a complete stranger once every day. Better yet, introduce yourself to a stranger you’d never imagine introducing yourself to. Is the suggestion slightly scary? It is to me, too, but that’s what we need to get past – being scared of each other.
I don’t think it’s rash or optimistic to think that people are inherently friendly, and that practically everyone out there wouldn’t mind making a new friend. The hardest part is saying ‘Hello.’ Even if it’s only one conversation you ever share, at least your life is one conversation richer. If only for a moment, you’ve connected with another soul against all odds, all lines of division. You’re proving to the world, and to yourself, that you won’t let violence scare you. You’re proving that friendship is the key to building a better world, not aggression.
What our country needs is not stricter homeland security, more advanced weapons, or reckless patriotism, but informed people who honestly care. Though the University is foremost a place to learn, the bonds that grow between people here are just as important. Again and again the advice comes up: “Get involved. Find your niche.” Clich? it might be, but I repeat these words now because of how crucial their meaning really is. A better world doesn’t begin tomorrow, the week after, or a year from now. It begins today. Now. It’s already passing by. And so are those around you. Are you going to let them escape without a quick “Hello?”