So a few days ago I wrote a story called “Birds are flying everywhere!” and in that short article, I talked about the new electric scooters around the OSU campus. I told the story of how I came to know about them and how important they were to my friends. They seemed like such a great thing! But do you remember when I talked about how I hoped that they wouldn’t cause too much trouble? Well, on October 15th a mass email was sent out to all of the OSU students. In this email, we were told that as of that night at five o’clock all of the birds would be taken back up. I showed my floormates the email as soon as I saw it because I knew the birds were important to them. They were distraught, to say the least. Not but three hours later at least three polls were going around to bring the birds back. One that I saw had over two thousand people listed already.
So to say the birds were important to the student of Oklahoma State University would be an understatement. I was surprised there weren’t riots in the streets. For the rest of that day, I looked up from where I was walking to see students taking their last ride before the birds were caged. Unlike how they usually rode-with wild abandonment-the riders seemed more sober and nostalgic for the “good old days.” I understand how this could upset some of the students. To be able to make it from the villages to Boone Pickens Stadium in six minutes flat without tiring yourself out is a major accomplishment. But were they really that big of a deal? There’s nothing wrong with walking. I also think that there might have been a reason they were taken away.
I was sitting in my media class last Tuesday morning and we were talking about the big news for the day. Unusually, we talk about what’s happening in the white house, what’s happening with the weather, and other things like that. Today though, the birds trumped it all. Most of the students were mad. Even though I don’t ride the birds-unless my friend lets me piggyback-I think that we lost a good thing. One of the boys in my media class knew one of the higher-ups in charge and said that one of the reasons we are losing the birds is because they were always left in weird spots, usually on their sides unceremoniously. From what I can tell from walking to class every day and from other students it also might have to do with the fact that students are getting run over and riders are zooming in from of busses like a bunch of heathens. I saw a story on Instagram that was supposed to be funny I think, but it was a student riding a bird in the dark and purposely running into a hedge. The student flew off of the bird and over the hedge. Really guys?!? In another story, it was posted in the New York Times that the birds lasted three days in Newport Beach before they were removed from the city. Three days! So Oklahoma State students are not the only ones having problems.
I guess this means that something that was intended for good has turned into a dangerous toy. As much as I wish this would stop happening, it probably won’t. At the end of the mass email, it said that OSU was working on an alternative for the scooters. Hopefully, they’ll get here fast. Students are already getting anxious.