Look both ways before crossing the street. Some people seem to have left behind this basic childhood rule, taught by our parents, when they walked through the gates of their college campus. Instead, many students nonchalantly cross the streets, sometimes without lifting their heads from their phones, despite a speeding car heading their way.
"Well, if they hit me, they pay my tuition." Wow, what a perk. It honestly astounds me to hear people confess this as though it's truly as easy as one, two, three: step one, get hit by a car -- lots of drivers speed, so it shouldn't be too hard anyway; step two, file a lawsuit and sue for the amount of your tuition -- the pedestrian is clearly always right, so it's an easy case to win; step three, collect your tuition money and you're set -- you can kiss your student debt goodbye.
But if you've ever actually said this -- jokingly or not -- there's one tiny detail you left out of your grand scheme to pay for college: what if you die? I'll put it bluntly: you can't collect that tuition money if you're dead, now can you? Sure, not everyone dies after being hit by a car, but if there's anything I've learned from watching "Grey's Anatomy" it's that things can go from cool to critical in the blink of an eye and not everyone is as lucky as they'd hope to be.
The fact that anyone would even dare make jokes about getting hit by vehicles or make light of the situation in any way is atrocious by itself. There are some people who actually have been involved in motor vehicle accidents where they were a pedestrian or have had someone close to them involved in such accidents -- people who know what the pain is like and sometimes can't forget it no matter how hard they try. Some people can remember the blood they saw spilled, the bruises sustained, the glass that was shattered, the surreality of lying helplessly on a cold street. To carelessly joke about this sort of hypothetical is to undermine the real suffering that comes with it -- the kind that real people have actually been through.
Yeah, we've all heard it before: college is expensive and there's no doubt about it. Even so, in my opinion that's still no excuse for thinking of such a situation so indifferently. What's more is that this, my fellow Seawolves, isn't just a recurring thought exclusive to our campus, but rather something supposedly funny that is shared by thousands of college communities.
And FYI, fear can sometimes be a good thing.
Now, you're probably thinking that I'm some uptight chick who can't take a joke, or whatever. Don't worry, I actually know how to laugh. The truth of the matter, though, is that there is absolutely nothing funny about this.
They say we should be careful what we wish for because it just might come true, though this isn't exactly the same sort of genie in a bottle, rub the magic lamp kind of wish. As college students we are surrounded by responsibilities, sometimes too many to count. But perhaps our biggest responsibility is to take care of ourselves. So do that instead of not giving a crap if you get hit by a car; take care of yourself.
