Walk This Way

The norm I decided to break was walking on the right side of the hall. This was a very risky decision, as we all know walking through the halls of Stevenson is dangerous enough already, without going against the flow of traffic. One day when I was walking to lunch, I filled up my water bottle on the left side of the hall (already getting bumped into) and then just walked on my way to my table, still on the left side. Sooooo many people bumped into me. It varied from little nudges, from the people who tried to go around me, and actual pushes from backpacks, from people who saw me but didn't care enough to maneuver out of my path. It was very uncomfortable, physically and mentally, because in America we don't walk or drive on the left side. My Americanized mind felt that it was wrong to be doing this; I wouldn't have been surprised if a security guard had stopped me and told me to walk on the other side. It just made me wonder why us Americans ever deviated from the left side, which is what pretty much everyone else in the world uses. But we are so set in our ways that switching it up is completely out of the question. We do what we do because we like it that way and we're used to it, which is fine; every society has their norms. I'm just glad I made it to lunch in one piece.