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Just the other day, while I was walking to class, I watched a fellow UVM student spit toward the Rally Cat statue, and then continue on his somewhat melancholy way.

First of all, ew. I find spitting in general to be disgusting. ItÕs definitely one of the more unattractive and nasty habits to have, right next to smoking and not bathing on a regular basis.

Second of all, how rude! Perhaps one of the biggest and uncivilized insults to give a person these days is to spit in their face. What may be even worse than spitting on a person is spitting on an institution of school pride.

Maybe IÕm overreacting. I do not quite understand the context of this person and therefore do not know whether this action was harmless or malicious. But either way, itÕs a lesson in two fold.

One, it serves as an example of what I believe to be the decline of social etiquette. This is not specific to UVM, although unfortunately I have plenty of examples and experiences from this school and other students.

People in general have yet to understand and remember what it means to respect yourself, others and the space around you.

From my own experience, I can understand how difficult this can be. With my previous roommate, I had a difficult time with her leaving a mess in the kitchen or living room and not cleaning up until weeks later.

Not only was this rude, but it was disrespectful to the space I had paid for equally and put time and effort into maintaining.

Obviously our standards of living were different, but the rudeness didnÕt stop and continued into other aspects of living together. It was not a situation I enjoyed or would like to be in again.

But this is also not the only example I have of people around me who are disrespectful and rude to everyone else. The point being, itÕs becoming a habit of a large population of students to be rude to others.

Secondly, itÕs an example of perspective. Students especially donÕt seem to care what others think of them. I find this juvenile and shortsighted.

The way we perceive our identity is based in how others think of and demonstrate it to us. It isnÕt always what you do, but how others perceive it.

In the real world not every student has the time to stop and explain themselves, and since first impressions are everything, you wonÕt always get a second chance.

This culture of rudeness needs to stop. These attitudes can translate into the larger outside world. I bet that people have lost jobs, even friends over this attitude. ItÕs probably not going to change that quickly, but do keep in mind, spitting is never okay.

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Sincerely,

Erica Smith

Class of 2013