Be Nice.

To this day, I still vividly remember my kindergarten teacher yelling out after us, “Don’t forget the Golden Rule!” as we trampled over one another, racing each other out to the  playground in a frenzy of chaos. It was something she constantly had to remind us of, considering how easy it was to irresponsibly cut someone in line for the swings or “accidentally” cheat in a heated game of Freeze Tag. It was something that was so easy to forget, something that we tended to shove in the back of our minds as we eagerly awaited our turn in hopscotch or chased after the boys to give them “cooties.” It was understandable why, at the innocent age of five, we had to constantly be reminded to be nice to one another. However, as current high schoolers, this is not something we should be forgetting.

Treating one another like  human beings is just something that should come naturally; truthfully, it does not require much effort to murmur a simple “bless you” after someone sneezes or hold the door open for someone who has their hands brimming with textbooks. It does not require much effort to offer a simple smile to someone who looks like they’ve been having a bad day or to quickly help someone solve a math problem they have been struggling with for hours.

Truthfully, the sole reason “being nice” has become so strenuous and time-consuming is simply because we teenagers are selfish.

We have gradually become so self-centered and egotistical that we can’t help but continually put ourselves first, forgetting that there are other people in existence besides ourselves. We forget that these people have feelings, too. We forget that these people are humans.

Kindness is a trait that is so simplistic it has actually morphed into a complicated concept. It is a trait that is often taken for granted and overlooked; such an emphasis is placed on more “complex” characteristics such as perseverance and determination and tenacity that the one trait that truly matters, the one that can be discovered at the foundation of us all, is ignored. As we grow older and more self-involved, we begin to forget to do what used to be expected of us. We forget to tell the girl in our third hour that we like her dress, we forget to congratulate the guy we sit next to on placing first in the track meet, we forget to tell our friends to have a good weekend as we bound out the doors on Friday. We forget to be nice.

It is a concept that we must teach ourselves to remember. We must retrain ourselves to treat others the way we want to be treated. In a world brimming with violence, jealousy, and disappointment, we as individuals are continually  given the option to spread a tiny sprinkle of positivity among everyone. We continually possess the chance to have a small impact on somebody’s day, and we often forget to utilize this.

Last Wednesday, I noticed a small freshman girl drop a pencil out of her backpack as she sprinted down the halls to class. My first instinct was to keep going. My primary response was to continue walking to my own class, because the tardy bell had just rung and I needed to worry about myself first. However, I bent down, picked up the mechanical writing utensil, and chased after her with it gripped tightly in my first. Tapping her on the shoulder, she turned around, a worried expression plastered on her face as she anxiously dreaded her first tardy. It immediately hit me that there never should have been any doubt regarding whether or not I put her before myself; her problems were obviously much bigger than mine. I was a senior; a tardy mark on my attendence sheet would ultimately have no impact on me. To her, however, this tardy would be the first imperfect mark going on her previously clean record. And showing up to class late, out of breath, and without a pencil would simply make matters worse. The minute I handed it to her, she let out a sigh of relief. Yes, she was still going to be walking into class a couple minutes late. But someone had been nice to her. Someone had taken time time out their own hectic life to make sure she wouldn’t be unprepared. Someone cared. It was right then and there that it dawned on me: there is a problem in today’s society. And I am also a part of it.

Kindness amongst one another is not something that should be uncommon; it is something that should simply be expected.  It is obvious, however, that treating one another like actual people is unusual. Me stopping for five seconds to merely hand a girl a pencil did not require much effort, yet she looked at me, her eyes shining with gratitude, as if I had just saved her life.

So I want to apologize for suddenly turning into the one annoying kindergarten teacher who constantly remarks , “Don’t forget the Golden Rule,” but I feel as if it needs to be said. You all need to be reminded, because somewhere between first grade and high school, it seems as if you’ve all forgotten. Say “hi” to that one boy who is tucked away in the corner, eating lunch by himself. Tell that one girl she has a nice smile. Save your friend a seat at lunch if you know she’s going to be late. These are all little things that ultimately mean a lot. At the end of the day, we are all just humans trying to survive in this harsh world. The least we can do is be nice to each other.