The Importance of Life
This week, for many students including myself, has been a very tragic week. You read news articles and headlines all over social media about mass shootings taking place and significantly large numbers of people dying, however, I never imagined it was something that would take place in my community, our community. The Oxford High School shooting that took place on Tuesday, November 30th, will never be forgotten among our community. Coming to school on Wednesday, the 1st of December, presented a feeling I can’t explain. I did not know anyone personally at Oxford nor any of the staff, but I couldn’t help but feel tremendously upset. Walking into first hour, which was really second hour, and seeing the sadness along with confusion among the other students, including teachers, broke my heart. The shooting, for me, has taught me a very valuable life lesson that connects to the play, A Raisin in the Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry.
In A Raisin in the Sun, one of the main characters, Walter Lee, becomes obsessed with the idea of being wealthy. Walter begins fighting with his wife, as well as with his sister and his mom, because he puts so much value into money and the potential “happiness” it would bring him. This destroys his relationship with his family as he loses sight of what is truly important. This reoccurring theme throughout the play that being wealthy to reach a certain status quo is not what life is about has been portrayed through the events of this past week. Take a student’s grades for example, how good of a student they are, how well they score on tests. Sure, these things are important, like how having money can be important for things such as food, clothing and shelter, but nothing will ever be as important as the life and mental being of the student, similar to how family plays an important role in the play. The shooting at Oxford High School put into perspective, for me, just how little one test or essay grade really matters, but that our safety and protection in school comes first.
This blog post is really meaningful, Riley. I also found myself questioning the importance of material things after hearing about the Oxford shooting. It felt like everything we loved could be taken away so fast, and so unexpectedly, that stressing out about meaningless things is so pointless. I also think the part where you discuss Wednesday's day at school is very relatable to a lot of students (including myself), and is well written that way.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate this reflection, especially how you highlighted the significance of life and how tragic events like the shooting force you to put your own life into perspective. As students we all need to hear this. We, myself included, sometimes feel like it’s the "end of the world" when we get a bad grade, though we should really be grateful to be alive and realize that the dilemmas we face are much better compared to what others are suffering. Awesome job, Riley!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. After the Oxford shooting I think it's safe to say that most of us were left reeling and stunned, unsure of how to feel about getting back into the normal routine of things. Last Wednesday specifically had a particularly strange and unsettling feeling that you described perfectly. Things like stressing over upcoming tests feel so inconsequential in comparison to what is occurring in the community right now. Your blog did a great job of connecting such an emotional and impactful issue to what we are currently reading about.
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