Editor's Note: Can I Live?

I've seen people be critiqued on just about everything: their hair, their outfit, their choice of major, their hobbies, hobbies they don't have. I've seen people be judged for reading and for not reading, for enjoying something a little too much or too loudly or in the wrong way, for not smiling, for saying the wrong thing, for not saying anything. I've heard bystanders comment on every aspect of someone's life that they know nothing about.

I've been those people, too – both the judger and the judged. I've asserted my opinion about others' pastimes or habits or lifestyles, and I've been caught in the act by the object of my editorialization. I've been the object of unlooked-for criticism and just wanted to ask: can I live?

Sometimes I feel like October 'tis the season for judgement. Whether it is someone's Halloween costume or their fondness for yoga pants and pumpkin spice lattes, the ugly side of how we feel about others has a tendency to rear its head as the weather starts to get cold. But seriously, why do we care? Why do we feel like we have the right to say anything about what makes other people happy, as long as they're not hurting anyone? 

Just let them enjoy their damn PSL, and don't let anyone make you feel bad about living.