What ever happened to going through the right side of the door?
A new trend has slowly progressed this year at University of Portland to abandon morals, and to use the left-hand door to enter or exit a building. At this point in the semester, students have become reckless and disaster strikes almost every day.
Students are reaching for the right-hand door only to be welcomed by a frantic student coming through from that very direction. Students are colliding, confusion is increasing, and frustration is rising.
If people walk on the right side of the sidewalk, it only makes sense to continue that path to the right-hand door. For some reason, students are deciding to take a diagonal path and reach for the opposite side door. This trend is most likely to be seen at the Pilot House, the Commons, and Buckley Center. Courtney Smith, a sophomore nursing student, commented, "We are not in the UK, ya nerds.”
I call for a change. Let us go back to our civilized roots and enter through the proper side of the door. Let us not run into each other and make awkward, mumbled apologies.
I value how we hold the door open for each other, but if it isn't the right door, our politeness will all be for naught. When I look back to the times I felt the temptation to go through the left-hand door, I shake my head with remorse.
Although I don't know why this is happening (I blame it on the endless rain and lack of vitamin D), I know we can nail this down. Change takes time, but as J.R.R. Tolkien once said, it starts with just one person for "even the smallest person can change the course of the future". Try to resist the temptation to reach out for that left-hand door and reward yourself with a delicious Commons dessert or Pilot House hot chocolate when you do. I believe in us, UP.
Ally Liedtke is a senior Theology major at UP. She can be reached at liedtke18@up.edu
