Imagine walking down the hall with your friends. You notice the loosening of your shoelace beneath you, but the thought passes, for it was simply not enough to disengage yourself from the conversation of–intellectuals.

Now your group of friends are walking down the stairwells. People scowl as your group blocks everyone, and your shoe is still untied. Someone in your friend group suddenly mentions politics. You turn to shut them down, your feet still moving down a step. Except it doesn’t.

You’re slipping now. It seems as though your friend had stepped on your shoelace. You try to catch the handrail, but miss.  Now your friends are charged for m u r d e r .

Being charged for murder is not a fun way to start your afternoon. But, it’s completely due to the fact that the phrase Tie Your Shoes is not said enough. Children all around the world a.k.a AMERICA, are tripping and falling everyday; maybe not the extreme of death, but the risk is still there due to their laces being untied.  

Mr. Lindo, the P.E teacher at the iSchool has had his own fair share of injuries due to loose laces. He says,  “In 8th grade in basketball practice, I slipped and stepped on my laces. I ended up getting a sprained ankle.”

The list of  injuries that can happen due to untied laces can go on and on. Mr. Lindo mentions that if one of his students leaves his laces untied on the treadmill, the injury would  “Be very unpleasant.”

However, there are many kids who think that they’ll be fine with untied shoelaces. “It’s not looked on as a big deal, but it is…” Mr. Lindo continues, “Anything can happen and it can happen to anybody.”

So what is a solution? So far, all we have is to continually tell people to tie their shoes. Enma Quezada, a freshman says, “I probably wouldn’t have tied my shoes if someone told me.”

Freshman Nuzhat Bushra also states, “In all honesty, I would think about tying my shoes if someone tells me to, but then ultimately forget about it.”

Therefore there’s only one answer–force.

“If it’s by force then it’s a different story,” Enma says.

We as a society need to force our peers to tie their shoes. After all, it’s for their own good. Our slogan: Tie or Die.