The Gideons were out last Wednesday.

For those of you who don’t know, the Gideons are the men who were walking around last week passing out Bibles. They are also responsible for placing the Bibles you see in hotel and motel rooms, hospitals and nursing homes.

Sure, they’re annoying. One of them tried to give me a Bible three times in a matter of two hours. However, no matter how eager they were to pass out those Bibles, they always did it peacefully.

If a Gideon asked a student if he would like a free Bible and the student replied with a “No, thank you,” the Gideon would simply reply with an “OK, have a good day!”

The Gideons aren’t forceful and condemning, unlike others who shove countless pamphlets into my hands that tell me if I don’t believe and accept Jesus into my life I’m going to hell. They just hand out Bibles.

All they’re doing is what their religion requires of them. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus is essentially telling Christians to go out and tell everybody the good news of Christianity. By passing out Bibles, the Gideons are doing exactly this. In Christianity, people must accept Jesus into their hearts to go to heaven. To accept Jesus, they have to know Jesus and the only way to know Jesus is by reading the Bible.

The Gideons are only trying to tell people about the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to them. They aren’t trying to force their beliefs on anybody. They’re just sharing the “good news.” They aren’t mean or angry. They’re actually really sweet. One of them told me he liked my hair because it is the same color as his daughter’s.

So please, don’t hate them.

Another thing I have noticed in the time I’ve been attending Kent State is how badly some students treat on-campus employees.

I have seen a person be downright rude to a student PARTA employee because the student didn’t pull the cord for his stop with enough time for the driver to safely stop.

At the Hub, at Eastway, at Prentice and at Rosie’s I have seen so many people getting food regard their fellow students who are serving it to them as if they’re dumb or inferior.

So many times I have seen students bump into someone shoveling snow or spreading salt on the sidewalks in the winter merely because that person was in their way. Of course, they almost never at least threw them a glance and muttered an apology.

I don’t understand how people can automatically think less of a person because he or she is wearing a dining services T-shirt, sitting behind the steering wheel of a bus or taking care of the grounds.

These people who are working are students, graduates, mothers, fathers, and human beings like everybody else. The only difference is that these people are working an on-campus job.

So please, don’t hate them.

Sara Petersen is a junior public relations major and a columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].