I was walking to Psychology class today from the cafeteria, taking in the beautiful surroundings that SMU has to offer. I made a beeline towards the building where my class was held, walking across the lush grass, wishing I could skip class and take a nap on the lawn. Then I noticed something I found very interesting. I was the only one who was not walking on the sidewalk. Finding that the sidewalk would not get me where I wanted to go as fast as I wanted to go (I was in a hurry) I had decided to forgo the concrete pathway and had just walked straight through the grass without thinking anything of it. But it becomes obvious very quickly when you end up being the only person on the entire lawn walking off of the designated pathways. Why do we walk on sidewalks, anyway? Now, I don’t mean for one moment to beg the age-old question as to why we don’t “carve our own path through life” or any other cliche concept of that sort (as it is a boring subject that I hate even mentioning), I am merely curious as to why we as people have decided that sidewalks are better to walk on than walking on the ground. Who invented sidewalks and why? Google couldn’t help me there, and I would love any insight into that matter… The only purposes I can see are to help keep our feet from getting muddy when it rains, provide a challenge to the growing of weeds, or to give a place for worms to crawl up and die on. Other than those, I don’t see why we walk on them at all… sidewalks don’t always take us where we want to go, and I much prefer feeling the crunch of lush grass beneath my feet.