In the wake of these crazy storms that have, more or less, kicked Iowa and surrounding areas in the teeth, it got me to thinking. Somewhere along the line, especially with this dark cloud of a "war" going on in Iraq, we got to thinking that there will always be a human enemy to pit ourselves against. While I can't disagree with an attempt to rid the world of terrorism and evil, I do remember the first words after 9/11 from our president were along the lines of making sure the evil-doers payed the price for their actions. It makes me think a couple things. Why was our first response a declaration of revenge as opposed to peace? Who are we (as a nation) to facilitate a country's growth after we invaded their country for what reason again? Before I get too political and start offending anybody, allow me to say this: we're all in this together so lets start acting like it. I was watching CNN today and they had a reporter right by the new art building which was about 6 feet under water. I can't explain to a non-Hawkeye the devastation that my spirit felt when I saw this. They were literally filming a large portion of my "walk to class" as a sophomore at Iowa. It was actually the first live broadcast I had seen of Iowa City post-storming. I had seen pictures of the storm's flooding but this really put things into perspective to me in relation to the storm's severity. At any rate, I was talking with my friend Bri (also a Hawkeye) earlier this morning when I texted her to check out CNN and she began to tell me how another friend of ours has been sand bagging for 5 DAYS STRAIGHT! I would imagine with the personality of this friend, the Iowa City residents/students and Iowans in general (holler) that this was never percieved as a choice. This was percieved as a call to action, an opportunity to help and and opportunity to join in community together to keep the spirit alive. What made me think of this? Well, in the interview they had the president of the university, Sally Mason, speak about the on-goings over the past week in Iowa City obviously in reference to the flooding. Her response was simple, subtle and (in my opinion) very Iowan of her. "I am inspired by the way the UI family has come together in support of each other, our neighbors, and all of our state’s citizens who are in peril. I am asking you today to hold onto that spirit of support and cooperation to the greatest extent that you possibly can in the days to come." So you may be asking why I posted this blog as "Us v Them." I guess this is my effort to proclaim that "us" should always be the human race, as one entity to progress further as a people and continue on with the cooperation and community that is taking place in Iowa City. As much as I want to tag their efforts in the flood response as "Iowan" or "American" I think it falls under the category as "human." In this horrible disaster I hang onto the old saying "From chaos comes clarity" with chaos being the flood but the clarity of this issue would be the responsiveness and act of community to once again reclaim the beloved point on the map called Iowa City and to bring it back to its normality. Once again, I applaud and promote the efforts of all who have helped, are helping and will help in the continuing efforts to relieve Iowa City. I ask that all who read this pray for everybody who has been touched (figuratively, not literally) by the flooding going on in the midwest. It is through community that we find ourselves doing our best work, through community we get to know our brethren and through community that we make things work to the best of our human ability. What do you think? Anybody agree, disagree? Does anybody have any medium that we can connect and help the people in need? Let me know...
