A few Mondays ago, I eagerly walked out of my last class of the day, ready to crash as soon I saw something that remotely resembled a pillow.
Before I could open the door at the end of the hallway, however, a young man violently pushed it open and upon seeing me, did not hold it open.
After an awkward shoulder brush, I watched him sprint into the nearest door right behind me, giving the assumption that he was running late to his next class.
It gave me pause to think, “Are we as a society honestly too “busy” to let common courtesy slip through the cracks?”
While I was slightly offended, I realized that I am guilty as well of using the excuse of “I’m so busy” to haggle my way out of habits I should be consistently doing, justifying my lack of attention to small details by working on a monstrous paper or distracting myself with class work.
I believe that now-a-days, we find “taking time to smell the flowers” [so to speak] distracting.
The consequence is disheartening.
Friendships are strained by lack of care, with only shallow catch up conversations at the pub to try to mend them, and relationships have reached a new level of normalcy: grab Starbucks in between work.
In an article found in the Harvard Business Review, Meredith Fineman begs us all to shut up about how much we have to do all the time, and warns us that, “it’s harming how we communicate, connect and interact.”
How could I argue with her?
Walking around campus, the majority of the commuting mass is plugged in to some kind of device and briskly walking to their intended destination. At this point, does anyone even acknowledge Bible Bob?
Granted, life in college holds an expectation of being busy.
But are we really that slammed? Sure, we have deadlines to meet and appointments to make, but is the small downtime that is found littered around in your schedule put to good use?
Even the time in between the demanding coursework required in college, maybe we could all find some time to have a quality conversation with one another.
Instead of, “what’s up?” We could ask, “How is your day going?” Instead of, “I’m so sorry I have to make this quick, but what did you want to talk about?” We could say, “I’m so sorry that I’ve running around like a chicken with my head cut off, but I’m here now. What did you want to talk about?”
Honestly, this would a make a difference.
As humans, we want to feel important to the ones we love, and crave conformation for this affection.
Making an extra few minutes to care about the people in your life could quite literally change the world as we know it, one good mood at a time.
However, even if you find you cannot manage to finagle a few moments of calm, restored conversation and interest in the world and the human beings around you that inhabit it, at least spend an extra two seconds and hold the door open.
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