The final bell rings and all of a sudden, it is every man for himself. Everyone throws on their backpack, whips out their keys, and all of the good manners that their parents brought them up with are history. Do not pretend that you do not know what I am talking about. 2,500 students. 3 roads out. You do the math. No, let me do it for you; it adds up to nothing but chaos.

I feel like every day in the parking lot is always the same. That kid in his pimped out Porsche thinks he can cut me off. He clearly does not understand that inching forward and leaving absolutely no space what-so-ever between me and the car in front of me means get in the back of the line. Finally, I give in and let the kid in, deciding that getting home a couple seconds later is a better option than risking a dent in my car. Then of course there are also those big shot cowboys in their trucks that tower over me, and that is coming from someone with a Jeep. They will stay bumper to bumper to the car in front of them, as if that will make the line move faster. Though I will never dare to mess with them, for their car could basically run mine over and I, like many others, would prefer to get home in one piece.

There are also those days where I think I will get outside unbelievably fast and so when I get into my car and glance at my clock reading 2:36, I am thinking, “Look at this, I managed to get to my car in one minute! I am going to get out of here so fast!” but the not so funny thing is, I still find myself caught up in the same congested traffic that fills the parking lot.

People get out into that parking lot and suddenly common courtesies just disappear into thin air. What happened to that nice person I know in class? Did you turn into some kind of monster when you stepped into that Camaro? Obviously you no longer remember the basic laws of traffic you should have learnt from Driver’s Ed. It is about time people took a step back and realize this frenzy to get off of school grounds as soon as possible is completely irrational.

So as I sit there blankly staring at the license plate of the car in front of me, I cannot help but wonder what it takes to beat the hysteria. Well, here is my advice to you: Just stop bothering to even try. When it is you versus hundreds of other cars, you are not going to win. When the bell rings, calmly pack up your things and stroll on out of the class. Laugh as everyone else around you desperately rushes to get to their car before the rest of the school. By the time you get home, you will realize you got home a mere five minutes later than you did when you had a heart attack leaving the school and that is when you come to the epiphany; the stressing is just not worth it.