Predictions of snow are magical in the classroom — no matter the students’ age. Last week when they heard about “Snowpocalypse,” my college students only regretted that most didn’t have classes Friday, and therefore wouldn’t be missing school. (They hadn’t factored in the cancellations this week!)
Local television stations cautioned that we should buy batteries, firewood, bottled water, food and snow shovels. But my family and I had weathered the storms of 1979 and 1996 and never lost power — so why get ourselves in a twist? I stocked up on food and made sure our flashlights had batteries.
Big snows have always seemed beneficial and romantic. Then this snowfall arrived. My neighborhood lost power before 6 a.m. Saturday and didn’t have it back for 32 hours. For the first time, I understood the realism of all those Victorian novels in which characters put bricks in fireplaces, then wrap them in towels to place in beds for warmth overnight. Those melodramatic passages now seemed perfectly reasonable.
When the inside temperature of our house stayed at 49 degrees for 10 hours, I was humming “My Fair Lady”: “Warm face, warm hands, warm feet, Oh, wouldn’t it be loverly?” I was, despite televised warnings, unprepared for the cold because power outages had never happened to us during the winter. “Snowpocalypse” quickly lost all magic as we wore gloves and coats indoors and struggled to keep our parrot warm — who was scarily still and shivering.
Now that power has been restored, I think there could be a lesson for students in the experience of so many thousands during this historic storm. I found myself looking back on my storm preparations with the sardonic wisdom of a reality check: It may be cute to load up on chips and dips, but when it’s cold, all you care about is making it through those hours with your children and pets unharmed. Suddenly everything that had seemed important before the storm seems trivial and you have a new perspective on the world.
The same phenomenon occurs during all natural disasters, family tragedies and major life events over which we have no control. When we are part of something larger than we are — whether a personal setback or a community project that benefits people in need of help — a healthy reordering of priorities occurs. Realizing that we often focus our energies on trivial matters forces us to re-examine what’s really important.
What kids are reading
This weekly column will look at lists of books kids are reading in various categories, including grade level, book genre and data from booksellers. Information on the books below came from Amazon.com’s list children’s best-sellers.
Children’s books on community service
1. The Kid’s Guide to Service Projects: Over 500 Service Ideas for Young People Who Want to Make a Difference by Barbara A. Lewis (ages 9 to 12)
2. The Littlest Volunteers by Danielle Speckhart, Terry Kovalcik, and Raven-Symone (ages 4 to 8)
3. 160 Ways to Help the World: Community Service Projects for Young People by Linda Leeb Duper (young adult)
4. Make A Difference 101, Community Service by Sande Hart and Dosia Bell (age 10 and up)
5. Protecting the Environment: Opportunities to Volunteer by Bernard Ryan (young adult)
6. Community Service: Lending A Hand by Terry Callahan (ages 9 to 12)
7. Community Service (School Activities) by Rae Emmer (ages 9 to 12)
8. Volunteering: The Ultimate Teen Guide by Kathlyn Gay (young adult)
9. 77 Creative Ways Kids Can Serve by Sondra Clark (ages 8 to 13)
10. Everything You Need to Know About Volunteering by Laura Weeldreyer (young adult)
Recommending that all students go a day or two without power is just plain silly, but recommending that all students participate in community service that would expose them to people who are cold and hungry and in need is not at all silly, and should be a requirement for high school and college graduations. As adults, we can lobby for community service projects in local schools. Students have the power to improve morale in homeless shelters, assisted-living facilities and hospitals with their youthful energy. In giving to others, they would begin to see their own lives with new perspective and might reorder their priorities. The survival lessons from this historic storm would thereby hold long-term benefits and not just painful memories.
Erica Jacobs, whose column appears Wednesday, teaches at George Mason University. E-mail her at [email protected].
