I have to get to my locker. Was that essay due today? Crap. Hey, jerk, don’t bump into me! The nerve of some people. Do I have enough time to go to the bathroom? Probably not. When did my chemistry teacher say the test is? Friday? Or tomorrow? I should go after school and ask her. Wait, I have tutoring this afternoon. Hopefully that will help me understand this trigonometry stuff. I really need to improve my math grade if I want to get my GPA to where it needs to be. Was that the bell? Third day in a row being late…this is not going to be good.

Sound familiar? It happens to the best of us. Within those five minutes between classes we get stuck in our own little bubble. A bubble filled with worries, test dates, and SAT vocabulary. A bubble where the whole world revolves around one person, and one person only. You.

You throw a few elbows to get through the cross hall. You slam into the swinging hands of the couple in front of you.  You buffet your mechanical pencil like a sword at the slow walkers blocking the door to your classroom. The hallways are a battlefield, and students will leave paper cuts in their wake just to get to class on time. But there’s a simple solution.

  Pop the bubble. Pop that selfish bubble. Talk to people. Care about people. Let the tests and projects worry about themselves. Put away your weapons. Be late to class in order to show a new student around or help someone pick up their scattered color pencils. Instead of cramming last minute for your vocabulary quiz, help your friend prepare for their anatomy test. Compliment your friend’s new shoes. Smile at your least favorite teacher. Hold the classroom door open for people instead of just rushing inside. For those five minutes in the hallway, love the people around you because, at the end of the day, your GPA won’t be there for you. But the people in the hallways will be.