The Perfect Storm

Humans have a natural attraction to disaster. Often traffic gets bad after a car accident not because the accident didn’t get moved to the side quickly enough, but because we can’t look away. We often stare at dead animals in the road not because we want to, but because there’s a certain fascination that makes us. There’s something comforting about events that are out of our immediate control that makes us want to watch them unfold.

Hurricane Sandy is no different. I find myself addicted to the New York Times website, constantly clicking the refresh button to see if I can find out more about what seems to be impending disaster. I’m reminded of Hollywood movies about perfect storms, like The Day After Tomorrow, and feel the excitement of being at the precipice of something big about to happen, yet I also feel guilty for my fascination.

Students on campus almost mocked this impending natural disaster. MiddBlog tweeted expressing concern about the kitty that hangs out around Proctor; a student impersonated “Sandy” on the college radio station. We’re obsessed with what might be the biggest natural disaster to hit the United States in decades, yet we’re not even taking it seriously.

This isn’t to say that I’m advocating dropping everything and running to shelter either, but when talking about a storm that might cause irreparable damage to some of our nation’s most prized cities I find myself surprised that no one is talking about the possible consequences of the storm.

All emails sent out by the administration so far regarding the hurricane have a serious, foreboding, even cautionary tone. As college students, though, we’re invincible. Not only are we invincible, we’re not responsible.

We don’t own homes that may or may not have natural disaster insurance. We’re not moving our lawn furniture so it doesn’t come crashing through our windows, nor are we stocking up on disaster supplies like emergency food, matches or water. We live under the assumption that the College will take care of it for us.

Not that this assumption is inherently bad, because it’s not. It just might be a bit ignorant. The problems this storm poses for the world beyond Middlebury College are severe. It can be hard to sympathize with a situation we have no tangible stake in, yet isn’t that what we’re being taught to do as students seeking a liberal arts education?

There’s a dichotomy in our reaction to Hurricane Sandy. While we learn to be active global citizens and take on important social issues as our own, we also neglect to take seriously the safety of our fellow American citizens. Hundreds of thousands of people in the Northeast currently face flooding, house damage and major transportation issues, yet our sympathy will only be felt retroactively.

There’s a lot of talk about Hurricane Irene of last year and debates about whether Irene was predicted to hit or not to hit Vermont. Yet, history precedes us.

I think that it’s irrelevant whether or not Irene was predicted to hit Vermont. It did. It caused millions of dollars of damage to roads and property in Vermont. The College made great efforts to raise money for the relief efforts, helping Vermont rebuild post-storm.

Hurricane Sandy is unpredictable, yet its wrath is imminent for many parts of this country. Dialogue is not the problem; students are talking about the storm. The problem is our ignorance toward a disaster that is out of our control. We can stop medical malpractice in Africa; it’s a tangible goal. We can’t stop nature.  A storm swirls toward the Atlantic seaboard, and there’s little we can do but watch.

In the case of natural disasters that are completely out of our control, the question remains, how can we help?