Yousif Aziz – Staff Writer –
First of all, I want to send my prayers towards those who lost their lives and to those who got affected by this colossal storm. Of course many of us have read or heard about this devastated storm that was one of the biggest one in the history of hurricanes to according to storm critics. Tom River, New Jersey resident and restaurant owner reported to CNN saying, “I’ve lived here for 39 years, I’ve been through several hurricanes, going back to Gloria. And I’ve never seen anything like this at all.” The damages were insanely massive and destructive to the point where some people had nothing left except their spirit if they were lucky to survive. Many people lost their lives and some were seriously injured. Approximately $88 billion of homes were put at risk because of the hurricane Sandy.
As of the State of Connecticut, a lot of loved ones were affected and many of whom I knew got their houses completely taken away by this storm. Many of us lost power which was a very problematic issue especially for us as students.
SCSU took the necessary steps in terms of sending students away to their homes which was ironically a bad idea for some of the students, because some of the students who live in other states were affected majorly as if they were to stay here on campus I suppose. Perhaps it was a good decision for those who don’t want the school to take responsibility if the school was affected. In an awkward way, I do agree partially that it was a good idea to send students home; however, I believe that it would have been a better idea if the authorities here at SCSU knew that they have students who live in other states who may lose their lives if they were sent to their home states. I believe that the location of SCSU is great regarding hurricanes and storms. It isn’t near the water which it may have been affected. The structure of the buildings seems to be strong enough to hold-still even with a wind of 110 mph. Perhaps futuristically the officials of SCSU would consider a safer plan in terms of whether or not it is a safe idea to send students to their homes or keep them here on campus.
The storm had negative effects no doubt; however, after the storm had passed, students had a break from the technology and the electronic devices because many of us had lost power. To be honest, losing the electronic devices and being unable to use the computers felt like that there was something missing in my life and the lives of others. I know that the electricity will be back sometime, but I cannot imagine living without electronic devices. I could assure you that I could live without the electronic devices for maybe a month at most. It will be extremely frustrating to be not able to use them. On the other hand, if we were to use our time properly during the time of having no power, then I would say that maybe it was a good time to bring in family in and listen to a story, discuss what everyone has been up to, or maybe it was a good time to read a book. The thought brings me back to wonder about the people who weren’t into the internet as much. How did they socialize without internet? What were their activities? What did they do to occupy themselves? These are questions to put in mind and to think about while having neither power nor electronic devices.
