November 9, 2016 - 15:01
Bryn Mawr is dark and quiet on a cold, November Wednesday. The eyes of people I know, usually smiling and full of promise, have gone dull as I walk to the Campus Center to begin reading "Collapse of Western Civilization." This is when it hits me. Here we are, mourning Western civilization as we know it because of the outcome of yesterday's election, not realizing that we aren't that far gone. I will admit I have been feeling as though the world is ending since last night, and couldn't sleep thinking about the murky gray fog that is our country's future, but reading this essay made me think about today a bit differently. Things look shitty right now, but we have time to join together and decide our own fate, as a county and as a human family. The empowering messages I have seen from my peers today, messages of hope and optimism, show firsthand that we, as a community here at Bryn Mawr, are not going to let this slide, like the scientists did in the essay. We will not sit back and watch the world continue in this negative direction. This is what separates us from this pessimistic work of science-fiction; we are stronger together, and the world will go on. We will work together to protect those affected by the changes kickstarted last night, and will not watch others' lives collapse. While this essay was supposed to make me feel scared, it made me feel hopeful; our story has not been finished yet. We have time, we have each other, and we will take advantage of it to continue our story the way we want to.