When I walk around campus I see beautiful things. I see the trees and how they drape across the beautiful quad near Austin Hall allowing tiny bits of the sun to kiss the thick green grass below. I see the flowers in the mall area providing life and adventure to butterflies and bees. There are people laughing, squirrels scurrying, birds tweeting, clouds floating, the clock tower singing, sororities dancing, intellects reading, I am walking and BOOM.
You ran into me because you were not paying attention.
I will be the first to admit that I love my cell phone. I look forward to hearing back from my friends while texting or liking that selfie on Instagram of my sister and niece at Starbucks. But I save that stuff for when I am not walking.
Many times I have been rushing to a class across campus and there is that person who is walking slower than Christmas in front of me. As I start to shift my path to either side, a crowd of people block my opportunity to go around so I end up slowing down and angrily waiting for them to pass so I can speed back up and carry on with my day. All of this because someone is more concerned about their Yik Yak feed or whatever the hell they are looking at that’s more important than walking.
I am guilty of this, too. I have pulled out my phone to see the time or to get a quick glance at a text that just came in. Unfortunately, my clumsiness won’t allow for me to divert my eyes away from the moving world around me for too long or I’ll eat dirt and cry. Some people, on the other hand are, incredibly oblivious to everything other than that small screen in the palm of their hands.
It is absolutely frustrating when you are walking and someone is approaching you but they haven’t seen you until it is almost too late. They look up in just enough time to swiftly move to the side and then shift their glazed over eyes back to their Facebook feed.
This zombie-like culture is especially dangerous on a college campus. It is one thing to walk around from building to building or hallway to class with no idea as to what is going on but, it is dangerous to try and cross the street with your eyes glued to your phone. Uh hello, just because you are walking does not mean you have the right of way. There are too many people driving around this campus for you to not pay attention to them. It is inconvenient when I am trying to drive through a cross walk but am unsure as to whether I should go or not because someone is too busy connecting fruits on their phone instead of crossing the street.
So, unless you want to become road kill and just another head on Uncle Dixie’s mantle, look up and pay attention.