By Michael Stemmler, Guest Columnist
Of course, I would be the one to get strep throat over my first Halloweekend, which kept me restrained to my room as the usual Oxford activities carried on. However, there was no way my sickness would suppress my spooky spirit, and after an hour-long Chipotle "Boo-rito" run, I suited up and took on my hall for some classic Trick-or-Treating.
Sadly, many of my fellow residents did not understand the mere idea of Trick-or-Treating and as they reached for my pumpkin basket to snag some of my loot, I had to explain to them the sacred tradition of Halloween. But that is another story for another time.
Now, when I would knock on a random door and people would open up, for some reason almost all of the answers I received were some form of immediate denial. Their responses followed a similar format: "I'm sorry, we don't have anything, I swear," or even the classic, "I literally ate it all, I'm sorry."
Yet when they saw I wouldn't leave after their first denial, they would eventually disappear into their rooms and appear with candy. Coincidence? I think not. It seems as if every single student had something to give, but their instinctive answer was no.
Does this mean we automatically default to rejection when something is asked of us from a stranger? I obviously was not a threat in my hospital clothes and camo crocs -- yes, I have camo crocs -- but I believe the situational aspect that made them say no was the simple fact that I asked that they do something for me.
I could make a broad statement about society as a bunch of narcissistic, self-minded people, but when others ask for help, most people are willing to give what they can. In my case, it was not that my request was too much for people, it was the fact that I was putting them at an inconvenience.
For most, they were in a lose-lose situation. First, they lost a physical piece of candy, and second, they did not gain any enjoyment in giving up one of their pieces of candy. In order to avoid that situation, my fellow residents defaulted to denial.
However, this still does say something about us. Often, when we have the simple ability to give something of ours to make someone else's day, we immediately try to pass it up and carry on with our lives like nothing happened because it puts us at an inconvenience. But if we just took the time to give something of ours to others, the amount of happiness we could spread in a day would dramatically increase.
It is often said, "No good deed goes unnoticed," but truthfully, most good deeds go unnoticed. This sad fact is the reason most people do not take the time out of their day to do the little things for others. If we received a reward for every nice thing we did for others, we would be running around trying to rack up as many deeds as possible, but those who still run around to make other peoples' days are the true winners.
So, I want to give a quick thank you to every person that greeted me with a laugh and a smile as they forked over some candy on my Halloween excursion. When it comes to the game of life, you all are racking up the points to win.
stemmlemf@miamioh.edu