by Michelle Willson, Editor-in-Chief
You know the song “The Bare Necessities.” I don’t think it was written to be taken literally. What’s the point of going through life only doing what you have to do to get by? If you see something you could do for someone else and you don’t have to go out of your way to do it, it should be an automatic switch in your head that just does it. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be grateful for people who see these things and do them automatically. But if doing something for someone else is not going to inconvenience your life at all, then just do it.
Be aware of the people around you. What do they like? What do they dislike? Listen to them rant when they have a problem. I don’t care if you don’t like the problem or if you think they should have handled it a different way; just listen. That’s what they need in that moment, and it’s not going to affect your life to sit there for a few minutes. Let’s say someone is talking to you about something they’re interested in. This is another case where you should just listen. I don’t care if you’re not interested in it. Take the time to hear what they have to say.
Preferred pronouns are a big debate, but I can’t understand why. Everyone has a preferred pronoun. Who is to decide which pronoun goes with each person? The way I see it, it’s just like a name. You are given a name at birth, but some people through different stages of their lives decide to go by nicknames or completely different names, and we don’t make a fuss about that. We don’t care if Margaret starts to go by Peggy; we just call her Peggy from now on. Why is it any different for pronouns? There will be a transition period were you call her Margaret, but she won’t care as long as you are trying. Is this ringing any bells?
I am not saying that you should go out of your way every day to do nice things, just sometimes. Be aware of the nice things you could accomplish without going out of your way, and do those.
No, I don’t have any professional degree that qualifies me to tell you what to do. I think doing the bare necessities is at least a start, but never where you should stop. If you know someone’s going through a hard time, shoot them a text. If you know someone in your class is struggling with your math homework, invite them to study with you. You’re going to be studying anyway. What’s the difference in having someone else there? You don’t have to put others’ needs before yours, but you should have them about equal.
Don’t do anything that’s purposely going to harm someone else, and always be looking for how doing nice things could help you. If you help the other student with your math homework, in turn, you will be helping yourself because teaching someone is one of the best ways to learn.
Not every problem will have an equal solution, but you’ll see that in most situations, you’ll get something out of doing the right thing, though that’s not what you should be looking for.
Make the present as good as you can for those around you. You could really change someone’s life.