Drama belongs in high school­— let’s leave it there

Last week I witnessed an argument of proportions I thought I had left behind in high school.

I’ll keep the story of what happened short. Two women, both fully grown adults who I estimate to be middle-aged, got into an argument during one of my classes. Apparently, one of them accidentally spilled her drink onto the floor, and some of the drink spilled onto the clothes of the woman sitting in front of her.

When the cup came crashing down, everyone in the class (including the professor) had their attention diverted for a few seconds because none of us could resist seeing who was the unfortunate victim of having something drop loud enough for everyone to hear.

Naturally, everyone returned to focusing their attention on the professor’s lecture. That is, until the woman who had some of the drink spilled on her decided to lash out.

She said something along the lines of “Are you going to apologize?” in a demanding voice, to which the other woman responded, “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

In typical high school fashion, everyone in the class focused their attention on what was happening in the corner of the classroom. While not everyone turned their heads to face the two women, some had other, less noticeable reactions; I will admit that I did snicker for a second or two before choosing to ignore what happened.

My professor then calmly, and kind of awkwardly, focused the class’s attention back on the topic he was discussing, and the class continued as normal.

Since the class occurred in the evening, my professor let us leave early as he told us he was getting tired. As I gathered my things to leave, I overheard the two women talking to each other.

The woman who had spilled her drink was civilly trying to apologize for what had happened, and seemed sincere, at least to me. However, the other woman did not think so and she said “To hell with you,” as she stalked out of the classroom.

I was taken aback after witnessing this argument. If I was still in high school, I would expect to see something of that magnitude occur regularly. But in college? I thought I had moved on from witnessing that kind of childish behavior. 

Evidently, I was wrong.

What I expected to happen were for the two of them to apologize to one another, and just move on with their lives. But instead, I witnessed a more dramatic twist to a small problem that could have easily been resolved with reasoned discussion.

If something like that had happened to me, I would have expected an apology. However, if I had not gotten one, I would have taken a breath, and let it go. I would look at it this way: In 100 years, who is going to care?

I am the kind of person who prefers to settle disagreements with reasoned discussion, instead of with a dramatic argument that does not solve anything. I quote Sweet Brown, the woman who described having a case of bronchitis during a fire as, “Ain’t nobody got time for that,” when I think of drama; I personally do not have time for drama, and I can’t really think of anyone that does.

The next time a situation like what happened in my class happens, heed my advice: take a breath, and move on with life; its too short to be worrying about a problem that, in the long run, will not affect anyone.