By Mia Hanuska
Can we please normalize pushing in our chairs again? I’m not sure at what age people start to forget that other people need to walk behind their seat, but have we lost all situational awareness and respect for others? Every single time I get up, whether it’s in class, at a restaurant, at a library, even at someone else’s house, you will find me immediately pushing in my chair to make room for others to walk by behind. Especially in classrooms, with desks far too close to each other and almost no room to move unless every chair is perfectly pushed in, we need to bring back pushing in our chairs. Trying to find someone to have discussions with in Eric Buran’s class when my entire path is filled with chair obstacles is nearly impossible!
Plus, it takes less than three seconds. In a restaurant or other public space, it shows respect for those who would have to otherwise push in the chair for you, saving janitors, librarians, and servers time they can be using on their other tasks. It shows that you understand the greater world we live in, and how leaving a chair out could render a walkway nearly unusable for someone with a mobility disability, or cause someone trying to move in a rush to fall and hurt themselves. Finally, it creates a mental close to whatever you were previously working on. The cycle of pulling it out, sitting down, then pushing it back in has been completed, and marks the end of the task that was being completed earlier. In a fit of passion, I have written a short Shakespearean-style sonnet to inspire those who leave their chairs out:
Yeah, I wanted to trip over your chair
You left it sitting out in the walkway
When you got up and neglected it there
Like pushing it in would take you all day
I had to move it in to reach my seat,
Or to ask my teachers a great question
It isn’t like some unbearable feat
Like getting a prisoner’s confession
Like doing math for space explorations
Like making a decent movie sequel
Like tryna count hundred one dalmations
Like making every person all equal
Just actually push in your own lil’ chair
Don’t be disrespectful or else: beware.