"Who's that guy waving at?"

Walking back from Wyly Tower, two friends and I stared blankly at the man in the green shirt who seemed to be waving at us. Nonchalantly, I glanced behind me to see if anyone was behind me. No luck there.

"Do you know him?" I asked Stacy.

Stacy shook her head and turned to Brian. "Is he one of your friends?"

"No."

"Then who is he waving at?"

It then occurred to me how depressing we three were behaving. Is it a crime for someone to be friendly? When did our culture start calling people weird for showing kindness and openness?

I have a love/hate relationship with Tech campus. We all do. Take a look around. We have a beautiful campus with tulips, fountains and squirrels, but everyone looks so gloomy when they head to class.

Of course, who likes going to class?

That's another thing. Most of our professors genuinely care about their students and thoroughly enjoy the subject they're teaching about. Aside from the entire journalism staff, I'd like to thank Pat Garrett, Robert Jungman and Rick Simmons from the English department.

I never liked English until I entered Dr. Simmons' class, never cared about British authors until Dr. Garrett, and I never read so much Shakespeare until July, when I entered Dr. Jungman's class.

If the professors can come to class with a smile, why can't the students? After all, we did sell our firstborn child to take these classes.

Perhaps that is why professors smile.

However, I've noticed when I am cheery and happen to smile at someone, they will usually smile back. It's almost as if they are afraid to be the first one to smile because the other person may not smile back.

That's when you mutter rude comments about them under your breath.

Also, if you hear someone say hello to you, don't ignore them. It's rude. I know. I've done it before and also been the recipient of The Overlook. Whether or not you were born here, you are in the South, and Southern men and women are genteel, polite and easy-going. So act like it!

I know it's hard. I may not like you, and you may not like me, but we're going to act courteous when we see each other.

Take my favorite person in the world, my boyfriend, for example.

"Are you ready for class?"

My boyfriend and I have class at the same time and therefore carpool to campus together. I serve as his alarm clock and call him when he needs to wake up, and he comes over to my apartment and drives to campus. Both of us enjoy staying up late at night. He likes playing basketball or PlayStation 2, while I would rather watch movies or talk all night.

He yawns as we leave, and I drink several cups of coffee to wake up. Walking hand-in-hand to class, we speak to people we know as we pass them.

"Is Kelly working today? Tell her I said hello."

"Did you watch that ball game last night?"

And we smile. He always does, and I'm catching on. It's common courtesy. Only a slight minority of the human race actually enjoys mornings and heading to class. Hearing a laugh or a stranger waving or smiling never depresses anyone. You may, however, think the person is weird and wonder if they are mistaking you for someone else.

The next time someone smiles at you, wave back. In fact, be the first person to smile. Feeling brave? Wave hello. Who cares if someone thinks you're crazy? You just gave them something to write about.

Judith McDaniel is a junior journalism major from Oak Grove and serves as editor for The Tech Talk. E-mail comments to jpm022@latech.edu.