I was shocked that Stevenson cancelled school even on Wednesday, let alone today as well. Stevenson is notorious for never having snowdays, from what I've gathered, there's only been 4 since 1989. The fact that I've been at Stevenson for all 4 of those days makes me feel lucky; this graduating class is the only class that can say that.
In a society that has become so dependent on technology and the hustle-bustle from one place to another, we have grown splintered from one another. People communicate less and less personally, and thus, interaction as a whole decreases. This is the society that we have come to live with, and a reality we have come to accept. It takes a big disaster to shake that reality; yesterday's snowstorm was just that disaster. With everyone in a giant area being affected by the same problem, people were forced to cooperate together in order to get through. Not by any means comparing the two in terms of magnitude, but the social cooperation that yesterday fostered invokes memories of post 9/11 America. When we had been attacked by the terrorists of Al Qaeda, every single American was affected by the same tragedy; we were brought together by our common experience. Although to a much lesser degree, yesterday was similar. With everyone affected by the same disaster - 20.5 inches of snow - people could no longer claim independence from the problems of everyone else. Instead, people were brought together to overcome this snow-laden enemy. Yesterday it was a common sight for me to see neighbors helping each other plow their drives. People who lived right by you, yet for some reason you never talked to, became your closest allies. Although obviously the snowstorm had a large negative impact, the positivity of social cooperation is something I will severely miss when the snow melts away.
No comments:
Post a Comment