IT'S THE little things in life that make all the difference. No matter what the situation, if every person involved made a conscious effort to improve at least small aspect of his or her life, then the world truly would be a better place.
It's a new academic year at the University, and there are many little things that we as an intellectual community could improve upon to make this year the best yet. All of these may not apply to all students, but odds are most people have noticed some of them.
Make eye contact. It seems like every student here, while walking between classes, is afraid to look a fellow Cavalier in the eye and give a simple greeting. It's not that we never make eye contact here, it's just that it never seems to happen in the 10-minute trek from Gilmer to Cabell, Clark to Wilson, or Newcomb to O-Hill.
True, we're all in a hurry to get from point A to point B, but avoiding eye contact or friendly communication doesn't save walking time. Give it a try for a week, it's sure to make the large student population seem smaller and more closely knit.
Stop asking stupid questions. They say the only bad question is the one that goes unasked, but this isn't always true. It's hard to count how much lecture time gets wasted due to irrelevant or repetitive questions like, "What exactly should I study for the test," or "What day is the midterm?" This is college, no professor can say what is on the test word for word, and every class has a syllabus written in plain English.
Stop complaining about the food. We all know it gets old fast. We all dread the inevitable recycling process that turns yesterday's hamburgers into today's Baked Ziti with meat sauce. We all wish we could last more than half an hour before having to recycle the food ourselves. Please stop reminding us.
Change up your wardrobe once in awhile. Everyone in Abercrombie does not equal everyone with fashion sense. Black stretch pants lose their appeal if worn every night by every girl. There is nothing wrong with jeans and a T-shirt once in awhile, and people with "unique" clothing aren't always out to make a statement. Ditch the mall and shop at K-mart ... you'll save money for dining hall alternatives.
Stop at tables on the Lawn. So many organizations give up valuable personal time to solicit their clubs, ideas or fundraisers at tables everyday on the Lawn. And yet so many students speed up, look away, and forget they ever saw these fellow students. You don't have to make any donations or sign up for anything. Simply slow down, check out what they have to say, and learn more about the University in the process. You may never know what opportunities slip through the cracks as you try and slip by without being noticed. It's one of the easiest ways to get exposed to the vast number of student-run organizations that help make the University tick.
Don't feed the squirrels. There's no telling how the Charlottesville squirrel population got so bold and rampant. It may or may not have something to do with dining hall table scraps, but there's no way of finding out unless we make an attempt. We'll never see the day when those critters stop attacking us or dying in huge quantities as road kill until we discover the source of their bravado.
Stop talking in class. We've been told all our lives not to disrupt class, and now that middle school is over, it really just isn't cool anymore. Your classmates are paying to hear the professor, not your gossip. And on that note, let your professor finish lecture, even if he goes 30 seconds over. The sound of 100 backpacks being zipped up always drowns out a professor's last minute updates that most likely will turn up on the test.
Turn off the computer. You can deny it all you want to, but we all know that every student here runs to open their Simeon account every chance they get. Nothing drastic will happen in the 10 minutes that it takes you to get from home to Central Grounds. And it may be tough, but try to ease up on the Instant Messenger. It is quick and easy, but we've all sat down for a quick chat that turned into a waste of two precious hours. The world needs a resurgence of good old-fashioned snail mail and phone calls. And all you first years, stop chatting with someone down the hall.
Find your own little thing. Everyone notices small quirks that bother them about someone else. And odds are that we're all guilty of them in some way or another. Take the time to change them in yourself, then maybe someone else will take notice and do so as well. Like all things in life, the improvement process starts with you. Fix your little things. Then go out an attack the larger problems in the world.
(Brandon Almond is a Cavalier Daily associate editor.)
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