Here is a story about why you shouldn't be mean to people.

When I was in college, I had a class which was taught by a Chinese fella. It was the first class he ever taught on his own. With apologies to my parents, who were kind enough to pay my way through college, I don't even remember what the subject of this class was. I think it was some sort of history.

Anyway, our teacher was not incredibly fluent in English. One of the nicest people I've ever met, but just not comfortable with the language. When he would give a lecture, you could see him translating words in his head. Not literally see it, because that would have freaked me out, but you could tell the words came out through a very difficult process.

There were about 18 people in this class. I sat in a section where two other guys always were. One was a nice guy that I'd usually talk to before class about nothing, and another guy who would occasionally join in. That guy was basically a meathead. He appeared pretty dense, and never tried to do anything to dissuade people away from that appearance. If I had to associate him with a sound, it would be "Doof." When I picture him talking, that's what I imagine coming out.

"Hey dude. What'd you do this weekend?"

"Doof doof doof doof. And then I pretty much doofed the rest of the doof."

Also in this class, there was a girl. A girl that was older than the lot of us, and seemed to be one of those people that no one under the age of 22 liked in college. You know, those people. The ones that wanted to learn. Damn them!

What this meant was that she'd ask a ton of questions. Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with that, but she would constantly interrupt the teacher. A teacher who wasn't the best at speaking English and who would get derailed quite easily when interrupted. So it was annoying. Not only was it annoying because it would extend class and would mess up our teacher's flow, but for the most part her questions were quite stupid. They were usually questions she seemed to ask just to hear herself talk and make other people think she was smart.

Everyone in the class despised her. The Doof guy would make incredibly audible grunts and moans as soon as she'd raise her hand, then start to talk without any provocation. At one point, I specifically remember him saying very loudly, "Aw shit, come on."

About two-thirds of the way through the semester, I walked into class like any other day and noticed she wasn't there. Unusual because she was always there, with her notes ready and preparing her routine of "Mess up the Chinese guy with questions." I was psyched that she was going to be absent. This will be a nice class, I thought. I sat down and the guy behind me, the guy other than the Doof guy said to me, "Dude, you know that chick? She died."

God damn. I felt like shit. I never even spoke to her or anything, but I just felt bad for being so excited that she wasn't in class that day. She had been in a car accident driving home from school the day before. Then I started to feel really bad because I never imagined her having a life outside this history class. I thought to myself, "She was in a car? That's, like, what real people do." So I put a life around this annoying person, and damn, do I feel terrible.

Class started and the teacher said a few words about her, even acknowledging the fact that she could sometimes be a burden to the class because of her constant interruptions. Then he started to tell us a little more about her and her life, and it was just heartbreaking.

At this point, Doof hasn't gotten to class yet. He was late. So he walks in after the announcement, as the teacher is now in his lecture, he sits down in front of me and says, "Sweet. She's not here, huh?"

The other guy said, "Dude, she died."

"Shut the fuck up."

"Serious, she died."

"What? You're kidding."

He looked at me with this horrid look in his eyes. I just nodded. He turned around and didn't move for the rest of the period.

Forty or so minutes later, the class was over, we walked out and Doof said something that would stick with me forever.

He sighed and said, "Damn, I hated her, but I didn't want her to fuckin' die."

And that is why you shouldn't be mean to people. Because people die. And you will feel bad. When they die. But not when they are absent from class. Only when they die. People.