As spring weather is temporarily upon us at Iowa State and Daylight-saving Time has increased our desire to be one with nature, there are more students, faculty, staff and visitors walking around campus than at almost any other time of the year.

It is wonderful that so many people are taking advantage of the weather and enjoying some time outside and, if only briefly, forgetting about stress in our lives.

The issue I have is this: Why can’t everyone walk or ride their bikes in the locations our university has so kindly given to us, mainly sidewalks? You know, the concrete, brick, or asphalt surface that was built for our travels across campus.

It seems that many individuals at Iowa State feel that it is their right to take the path of least resistance at any time and at any location.

If you owned a piece of property, how would you feel if every day hundreds of people decided to walk across your manicured landscape just because they could?

The staff and employees of the landscape department work as hard as possible with their small budget to keep the grounds of Iowa State looking as beautiful as possible.

So why do so many people fail to see the damage they do and continue to cut across turf areas and landscape planters just because it shaves a few seconds off their travels?

I read an article about research done at the University of Tennessee that explained why the Amish people, as a population, are extremely fit with low numbers of obesity compared to the rest of Americans.

One of the main reasons they gave was that Amish people walk about two to three times the number of steps in their average day.

I’m sure all of us could use a little more exercise than we have time for during a busy semester. Well, here is a wonderful opportunity to add to your exercise program.

Walk where you are supposed to! I know it’s hard to break bad habits, but try to take those extra steps around the corner to follow the sidewalk that has been generously installed for our benefit.

Don’t cut the corners of our precious landscape at Iowa State. Have some respect, get a little more exercise, and most of all, help maintain the grounds so that the next generation of students can also enjoy nature on sunny days of spring.

Kory Beidler

Graduate student

Horticulture