Pick Your Head Up

Sara McInerney
Pick Your Head Up
1-29-13

I enjoy talking to strangers and I love meeting new people. Like the girl who shared in class today said how she remembers every one she meets, so do I. Just like her, I will remember if I met you at freshman orientation, a party where there was 100 other people or if you are a friend of a friend and we have only met once. Like her, I hate that other people think this is weird or awkward. One of my favorite things about college has been constantly meeting new people. When I walk down McKinley, I am not looking at my phone, I am usually listening to music but not a deafening volume, just high enough for me to hear, but I am able to hear my surroundings as well. I also enjoy just looking at campus because deep in the back of my mind, one day I know I am going to WISH I was lugging a 50 pound back pack down McKinely, walking to class at 8 a.m. or sitting through a lecture hung over after a long night at Dill Street. When I walk down McKinley, I like to keep my head up.

I couldn't help by praise the article, "When you're only text friends" because the author talks about how excited she was to set foot on campus to see all these new faces, but she was given the cold shoulder. It wasn't because of anger or anything, but because students are staring down their phones, iPods or Ipads. Just like the author, I had felt the same way coming to campus. I enjoyed meeting new people and I always remembered them after parties on the weekends walking down the street on Monday. I look at every person I pass and I make sure to nod, wave or smile at someone I know regaurdless of the depth of our relationship. I just like being friendly. But I soon fell to the same demise, staring down at my phone, seeing that guy who tried to hit on me and pretending to receive a call and turning away or just plain ignoring people to avoid eye contact. 

I highlighted, underlined and cirlced the quote, "Everyone wants everyone else to say hi but doesn't want to be th person saying hi." I think this is so true! Everyone comes to college with this outgoing and go with the flow attitude, but soon enough, we all fall to the trap of the cell phone. Texting down McKinley, faking a phone call to avoid someone or just ignoring the people around you. College is the best four years of our lives and we're walking down the street reading Twitter just to pass the 7 minutes it takes to get to our next class. We need to pick up our heads. We ALL know we will someday be surrounded by clinging children, screaming babies, huge bills, an angry boss and annoying mother-in-laws so while we can, we need to have the intereactions of kids just like us, easy going, friendly, college students. 

That is why I pick my head up.