This column is going to be about tact and politeness, so stop reading now if those two things don't appeal to you.
I might be channeling my inner old lady in here a bit, so bear with me.
If you see someone behind you while you're opening a door, hold the door open for him or her. We've all had doors slammed in our faces, and it's not a good feeling. Sure, it's one thing if you didn't bother to check around before letting the door close, but what's even worse is when you look for other people, notice someone walking toward the door and still let it close.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Bikes have no business on sidewalks. They especially don't belong there if a bike lane already exists. I understand if you're about to pull into your destination, but cyclists who travel almost solely on the sidewalk need to change their ways. I'm tired of nearly dying every week.
This was mentioned in a previous article of mine and seemed to spark some debate: talking loudly in dorm hallways at night. Don't do that. By all means, have your conversation. Chat it up. Talk, giggle, console. Do what you've got to do. But if you are talking loudly in my hallway after a reasonable hour, and I am trying to sleep, I will come out and politely ask you to stop. And contrary to what some of you may think, that is well within my rights as an adult to do so - yes, it's also in your rights that you may talk wherever you please. But your rights end when my sleep begins.
To put it differently, to talk loudly in the hallway after 1 a.m. is to inhabit Chicago's Grant Park. In this equation, I am the police carrying out Mayor Rahm Emanuel's ordinance. Neither one of us is happy about it, but rules are rules.
Also, they shouldn't have kicked the actual nurses out of the actual Grant Park, which is my next point on politeness.
Hey, police departments of the cities where the Occupy protests are located: Let's not use tear gas and such on those crowds, alright? I'm talking to you, Oakland. You guys don't think there are more threatening crowds to worry about in Oakland than a bunch of peaceful protesters? If you need them to leave the area, then tell them to do so.
I understand that, according to some reports, the protesters threw bottles and rocks at the police officers trying to maintain the crowd. Fine, so they may have needed to be controlled. But the crowd contained children, families and Scott Olsen. Olsen received a gas canister to the head, which caused brain swelling and a fractured skull. Did I mention he was an Iraqi war veteran?
Thank you all for serving and protecting us. I'm sure you do what you think is best for your cities. Just think before you throw tear gas next time.
The "being more polite" thing needs to happen in all areas of life.
I haven't even begun my tirade on personal body odor. Perhaps that's for the best, although some of you would need to read it.
Very few of you would appreciate my carefully penned denouncement of the meat industry. Plus, that's gross. The meat industry is not pleasant to write about or pay attention to, so it's best if we all just pretend that those cruelties don't actually happen.
I could talk about how good people never ruin the endings of popular books for everyone. Oh, but wait, do people still read books these days? I'm never sure about the country's stance on books.
Be extra polite to our football team, too. I hear they may need just a few encouraging pats on the back.
Sami Main is a journalism junior at UF. Her column appears on Tuesdays.
