Everyone knows there is a problem with parking on campus. What people don’t know is that instead of driving around a parking lot for five minutes looking for a close parking space, they can just park in the first available one and walk a few extra feet. According to Men’s Health, Mississippi State was ranked the third fattest school in the nation in 2005; this might not be the case if people walked a little bit further everyday. Health experts say adults need to walk about 10,000 steps (about 5 miles) a day.
Luckily, I live in the Cotton District, so I can walk to school every day. I understand that not everyone has this advantage, and that’s why we have decals. We pay $50 for a decal that might or might not give us a parking space in the lot we desire. But if some people didn’t have these decals, they would be walking miles to get to school every day.
I don’t think it’s wrong to drive to school, because I know how frustrating it is to wake up late and bust your hump to get to class on time. The best way to get to class is to drive.
But for those who live close to campus, it’s very easy to walk to the depot and just take the shuttle from there. It cuts the distance of walking, and you don’t have to fight for a parking space. I know that waking up on a Friday morning with a hangover doesn’t put anyone in the mood to walk to school in the early morning, but parking a few yards closer to your destination isn’t going make you feel any better than it would have if you would have parked a little further back and increased your step count for the day.
Not only does it waste time to drive around aimlessly waiting for that one person to leave his/her space, it backs up traffic and causes problems for other people who are just trying to get to class. It’s nice to find a parking space extremely close to campus. I’ve been there, but it’s also nice not to feel lazy and be able to wake up before I get into the classroom.
People like to complain. And it’s nice to sit around and talk to people about how awful the parking situation is. But unless people start taking action and doing something for themselves, the complaining is never going to stop, and the issue is never going to change.