Recently I have noticed a severe lack of something vitally important to all our lives on this campus-politeness. Now I know that being polite and putting others first is not always at the top of our agendas, what with our mind full of worries and stresses over school, work, money and relationships.

Sometimes you have days where you spill coffee down the front of your shirt, forget to print out an assignment (or do it at all) and then get ruined by pop quizzes. Other times you have days of sunshine and rainbows where you ace the test, impress the cutie in your class and have time to both nap and hang out with your friends. For some of us (read: me) it is usually the former rather than the latter.

It isn’t always easy being a Billiken, but there are a few simple ways we can mind our manners to make life easier for all of us. My first suggestion is that when it is rush hour on West Pine make sure to walk faster. There is nothing more irritating than walking between two distant buildings, trying to make it to class on time and having to dodge around some of the slowest walkers known to humankind. If you are leisurely strolling around campus at this time, good for you, but please move to far right, the shoulder if you will, of West Pine. Please give the people trying to make it from Beracha to Tegeler in ten minutes a fighting chance.

Next, hold the door for people. Even if you are busy, late, in a bad mood or hate the person behind you, you are never too important to hold the door open for someone else. It takes approximately three seconds and will not damage your pride at all. Your only way out of this is if the person behind you is more than four to five paces away. Holding the door for someone is generally just the right thing to do in a civilized society. When I first came to SLU I was astounded at how kind everyone was for always holding the door for each other, but three years later it appears as though our manners have eroded. So hold the door for a stranger and check it off your good deed for the day list.

Next, if you are going to take a phone call in public, do not do it loudly in the middle of the BSC (who gets service in there anyway?) or the lobby of Ritter, or Pius or the middle of Starbucks. No one wants to hear you complain to your mother or tell your best friend from home what you did this weekend. Also, if you happen to be this loud person, why do you want us all to know what you are talking about anyway? Whatever it is you have to discuss with someone at the top of your lungs, I feel as though I can speak for everyone when I say that we are all eavesdropping on your conversation and judging you silently. Take your call somewhere more private where the rest of us are not bothered by your description of what you had for dinner.

My next suggestion for a happier SLU is to clean up after yourself. We all use common spaces on this campus, whether it be the BSC, Pius, the CGC, etc. So whenever you are done enjoying a meal at ABP, please throw your trash away. Do not leave a soup container and a huge pile of crumbs that you expect the person who comes after you to have to clean up in order to use that table. No one else should have to clean up after you because you were too lazy or busy or entitled to do so. We have an enormous staff of dining workers and facility maintenance staff who clean up after us every single day. Do not make their jobs any harder by making a mess you do not think you are responsible for.

I am usually the one rolling my eyes when old people talk about how our generation has no manners but now I have become your grandmother. These suggestions are rooted in a sense of respect for others, but are more deeply rooted in having a sense of humility. We all get caught up in thinking only of ourselves now and then, but do not forget about the people you are surrounded by and the little things you can do to make their lives a little bit easier. By minding your manners and treating your friends and this campus with respect we can make the daily grind a little bit happier. Do not think that I will not call you out in public if I see you being impolite, Grandma White does not mess around.