Parking at Grand Valley State University can be a pain.

We’ve all been there, following someone down the rows of parking, praying they are going to their car and not just to Laker Village so that we can swoop in and steal their parking spot.

But let’s be honest with ourselves, GVSU. It’s really not that bad.

The university’s campus in itself is relatively small, especially when you look at bigger schools like Michigan State University or University of Michigan for comparison. The longest walk that most students at GVSU will ever have to take is closer to the average distance than most Michigan or Michigan State students, and one could argue that a walk at GVSU is even shorter.

To put it in perspective, using www.mapmyrun.com, the Lanthorn calculated the distance from the back of parking Lot C (by the Fieldhouse and in front of Lubbers Stadium) to Calder Art Center, and it was a little bit less than one mile. If you pull back the destination to Lake Ontario Hall, it’s only three-quarters of a mile — and most of us never even walk that far.

As far as resident parking goes, at Michigan State, most students who live on campus don’t even bother to bring a car, especially if they’re in a dorm. Parking spots for freshmen there, and at the similarly massive campus at Michigan, are few and far between.

More importantly than any comparison-based argument to consider is this: although residents and commuters students at GVSU might not always get the parking spots they want — even after following that one kid six rows down into Lot C — don’t you think it seems trivial in comparison to every other problem facing college-aged students in the 21st Century?

With an uncertain job market, rising tuition costs and an upcoming presidential election that has been regularly referred to in the media as a “circus act” (Google it, we swear), as students, we have much bigger battles to fight than one simply of convenience.

So the next time you pull through those GVSU arches and immediately fly off the handlebars because you had to park somewhere across from the Student Services Building, put the parking in perspective.