Stairs vs. Elevator
Tower is one of our main campus buildings. It is the majestic structure you can see when coming up the main road onto campus. It is beautiful, unique, and it fills me up with pride to know that it is part of my school.
But nothing is perfect–Tower has five floors.
That’s eight flights of stairs. That’s a lot of individual steps. Tower makes me suffer through the dilemma of choosing to either take the stairs or the elevator each and every time I have to go to class on the fourth floor.
Taking the stairs makes me feel healthy and active. It becomes a great incentive for me. Taking the stairs helps me to have a reward system in which I allow myself to devour ten brownies and not feel guilty about it. Taking the stairs makes me feel like I am taking advantage of my youth and appreciating my well-oiled joints. But I reach the top of the stairs on the fourth floor and I get to class panting like a thirsty dog. It makes me sweaty. It makes me realize just how out of shape I am.
But taking the elevator brings about an entire list of reasons to feel bad about avoiding the stairs. The wait of shame that I endure as I beg the elevator to reach my floor a little quicker makes me feel like I need ten brownies to make me feel better about being lazy. It makes me wonder if waiting for the elevator is worth my time.
This is the impossible choice that I have to make each day.
Maybe I should take the elevator to the second floor and walk up the stairs the rest of the way.
