Everyone, at least once in her life, has run into someone with bad manners. There are varying cases of it, but no matter who you are, you have met someone, or occasionally acted like someone, who has no manners. This problem can be found anywhere, but it runs rampant in high schools.

Recently, I was walking through the Nashoba Cafeteria during lunch, minding my own business and ready to sit down and enjoy my food, when a fellow student accidentally dropped his smoothie next to me. It exploded over me and my clothing, but the crowning moment was when the student looked directly at me, and proceeded to walk away without apologizing.

As I stood there in shock, surprise, and covered in smoothie, I questioned why people, especially people in high school, lack basic manners? Now I am definitely not saying that all high school students do not have them, I can name quite a few people who are very polite, but what is it about the high school setting that brings out the worst in us?

My guess would be this: students do not care anymore because they are taught that it is a “survival of the fittest” world in high school, and that they should not care unless it affects them. While this is to an extent true, it does not mean that a student should not apologize after they make a mistake or do something wrong. Walking away after accidentally spilling a drink just demonstrates a lack of maturity. There may not be a way to really help fix the problem in schools unless students and faculty members can work together to demonstrate that high school does not have to be a “survival of the fittest” scenario, and that instead it would be more beneficial and make it a more enjoyable experience for all if people could just act decently toward each other.

So please, the next time you spill your smoothie all over a person, or make some other accidental mistake that a simple apology, or use of manners could fix, by all means consider doing that rather than just walking away. Trust me, it will make everyone involved have a much better day.