There are neighborhoods that are nice enough during the day, but at certain hours transform into scary, rough parts of town that should be avoided at all costs. That's kind of what I imagine Stribling Walk is like for officers. During class, it's a carefree skip-to-the-lou-my-darling, but get caught between the bells and BOOM, those of the "O" paygrades will be descended upon by a herd of Midshipmen consuming all in their path like some kind of Biblical locust plague. Seriously, it's like the part of The Lion King where Mufasa gets trampled by wildebeests, but with a million and one salutes, instead of a tragic cinematic moment that emotionally scarred a generation. And every mid/former-mid knows that they space themselves out on purpose just to make the officers raise that arm over and over again.
But the phenomenon changes when mids overtake an officer rather than meet one head-on. The customs and courtesies cover this strange ritual, but since today's youth find the phrase "By your leave, Sir," awkward and clunky, most have a different solution: They slow down and stack behind the khaki-ed culprit, waiting for him to either make a turn off the walk or for some brave soul to offer that initial sneaky salute to break the ice for everyone behind. Until one of those things happens, it's one giant, uncomfortable "Forrest Gump"-esque pilgrimage to Bancroft. Officers, just steer clear of Stribling and make everybody's life simpler. Or buy our new shirt and blend in with the crowd:
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