A trademark of Liberty’s hallways is the constant crowding of people. Whether it’s a clump of people off to the side, or an immovable walk in front of the stairwell, it’s a constant inconvenience we’ve all learned to live with.

Sure it’s annoying, but really, what are we going to do about it? Most likely complain to our friends, or try to explain to our teachers why we were late to their class. It’s unfortunate, but it’s just a part of life.

As for those contributing to the traffic, I’m sure they’re unaware of how aggravating they really are. All they really want to do is talk to friends between classes, and is that really such a bad thing? They’re not trying to get in your way or make you late, they’re trying to socialize during the few minutes of free time they have during the day. Instead they’re getting shoved to the side, or whistled at by teachers to “move along.” Not that encouragement would be much better- at least the whistling gets things done.

I would have sympathy for these students if it weren’t for the fact that they don’t seem to care about anybody else. They don’t apologize for being a roadblock. They don’t politely move out of the way. They just keep on doing what they’re doing and that’s that. It’s frustrating, to say the least. You don’t want to ask them to move, but at the same time do you really have another choice?

I get it, I really do. If you don’t have any classes or lunch with your friends, you want to talk to them at some point during the day, but can’t you do it anywhere else? Whether it’s near the vending machines or even inside of a classroom, just anywhere that doesn’t affect anybody else’s routine. When your quick chats come to the point where we need teacher’s lined up along the hall to instruct people to get to class, they’re crossing a line.

Is there a solution? Yeah, and a pretty simple one at that – don’t stop in the middle of the hallways. Passing time, while extraordinarily short (especially for students going from the 300 to 200 hallways), is something that needs to be used for getting from one place to another. So next time you have the option to stand tall and proud (in the middle of the staircase) think about everybody behind you that is about to be late to class. Make everybody’s day (and life) a little bit easier and at least stick to the sides.