Voice of the Voiceless

Has anyone ever told you to know the difference between your friends and acquaintances?

What happens if you’re trying to establish a friendship with someone new, believing everything is absolutely fine, and then the next time you run into them, they act like they don’t even know who you are? That’s what I like to call, “the honeymoon switch-up.”

To explain, when you start somewhere new, you want to make a good impression so you will put on a new “coat of polish” to impress others. You show up on time, work extra hard, might talk a different way, don’t get on your cell phone, and follow every single rule. As time goes by, that new polish rubs off and you might start texting or you might cut a corner here or there.

In the times we live in, most people these days naturally have this “polish” they put on for a small amount of time, so they don’t rub people the wrong way.

Everyone comes to school with their new polish on and they want to be as nice as possible. They show up to class on time, try to leave the biggest impression on teachers and students. Once Welcome Week is over though, doesn’t it seem like the cold shoulders begin to come out? When walking by someone you’ve met, the polite thing is to say “hi.” When they don’t say “hi” back and keep walking by, you begin to wonder where the break in communication is happening.

I was curious to know how others felt, and one student believed this was the reason: “Everyone is nice because they are trying to find their group. Once they have their group, they close off from others. The only way people branch out after that is through parties. No matter how many school events we have here, people just come and stay with the group they are with and leave.”

Another student had this to say: “Not everyone does it, but it does happen enough to the point where you do notice it. People come and they start the year off like ‘Oh my God, welcome to Siena, it’s going to be great year, it’s going to be so much fun.’ Then once Welcome (Week) is over, people begin to focus on other things. Some people really do change on you, but there are a lot of people who hold on to their connections.”

Not everyone is someone who does that. We are all in a race to get to our future, and sometimes friendships and relationships get sacrificed in the midst of all it. Don’t let one person’s attitude or another person’s goals turn you away from making friendships with others. There’s probably someone out there in the same situation. You never know, maybe one window closed for a reason. Just know there is always another one that will open. You just have to keep your head up.