Today I am sitting in an office (mine for the semester as I am the Interim LASC Coordinator... trust me, you don't want to know) I have gone through all the piled up emails, responded to those that needed responding to, deleted those that I could, and filed away those that need to keep for later. Students have been taken care of (and not in a killed dead sort of way but a productive, questions answered, problems solved sort of way)
In the middle of all that I get a text on my phone saying that there is a bomb threat in one of the buildings on campus! (I am on campus but not in that particular building) Seconds after I get the text, I hear a student outside my office (my door is open) talking on the phone to a friend or family member about who knows what. She sounds emotionally invested in what ever the topic is but there aren't any auditory warning signs that she is in distress and in need of assistance so I ignore it and continue to do my work. But then.... TRAGEDY STRIKES!
Somehow she is made aware of the bomb threat (that I had found out about through a text at least 10 minutes before) and her voice climbs into the stratosphere in both sound and octave levels. Many choice words come barreling out of her mouth as she exclaims to whoever she is talking to that there is a BOMB ON HER CAMPUS!!! Her voice then began to fade away (though I could still hear some interesting combinations of words and sounds including her stomping down the stairs ) as she fled the building like her arse was on fire.
I sat there listening as she faded away wondering just what exactly had gone through her head in the millisecond before she reacted to the information of a bomb THREAT in a building that SHE WASN'T IN. Did she truly fear for her life? Was she actually running out of the building so that she could go and stare at the building in questions and watch with all the other looky-lou's as the police (who were reportedly "on the scene") milled about most likely doing nothing? Was there someone in the building that she was worried about? There were actually quite a lot of possibilities but what struck me the most was the contrast between her reaction and mine.
When I heard about the bomb THREAT ( I emphasis THREAT because that is important to my reaction and the whole reason why I find this interesting) I thought for a very short second about what to do and then continued to work on my emails, the information filed off in the back of my mind but relatively unimportant as it was at that time a THREAT only, the people who needed to be addressing it were doing so, and it didn't effect the building that I was in. I found myself confident and comfortable in the fact that things would be taken care of and if they indeed turned out to effect me, I would be made aware. About a minute later I sent an email to someone who I thought might have been in the building (as she works in an office there) with my well wishes and concern but knowing that she is a responsible adult, I am certain that she evacuated when she was told to and that all is well.
Looking at my response in contrast to the student's response I just shake my head in wonder at how different we are, what drives us and how comical basic daily life can be. There are other things that have gone through my head as you can imagine, but those are best left out of print.
So now I sit here finishing up the blog post so that I can prepare for a meeting even though I have no idea if anyone is going to show up due to the bomb THREAT.
We move forward as we can. My website is going through a face lift but all info is still there.
Have a wonderful rest of Winter and I am sure I will share new insights with you soon!
Go forth and be BRILLIANT!
Stacey
In the middle of all that I get a text on my phone saying that there is a bomb threat in one of the buildings on campus! (I am on campus but not in that particular building) Seconds after I get the text, I hear a student outside my office (my door is open) talking on the phone to a friend or family member about who knows what. She sounds emotionally invested in what ever the topic is but there aren't any auditory warning signs that she is in distress and in need of assistance so I ignore it and continue to do my work. But then.... TRAGEDY STRIKES!
Somehow she is made aware of the bomb threat (that I had found out about through a text at least 10 minutes before) and her voice climbs into the stratosphere in both sound and octave levels. Many choice words come barreling out of her mouth as she exclaims to whoever she is talking to that there is a BOMB ON HER CAMPUS!!! Her voice then began to fade away (though I could still hear some interesting combinations of words and sounds including her stomping down the stairs ) as she fled the building like her arse was on fire.
I sat there listening as she faded away wondering just what exactly had gone through her head in the millisecond before she reacted to the information of a bomb THREAT in a building that SHE WASN'T IN. Did she truly fear for her life? Was she actually running out of the building so that she could go and stare at the building in questions and watch with all the other looky-lou's as the police (who were reportedly "on the scene") milled about most likely doing nothing? Was there someone in the building that she was worried about? There were actually quite a lot of possibilities but what struck me the most was the contrast between her reaction and mine.
When I heard about the bomb THREAT ( I emphasis THREAT because that is important to my reaction and the whole reason why I find this interesting) I thought for a very short second about what to do and then continued to work on my emails, the information filed off in the back of my mind but relatively unimportant as it was at that time a THREAT only, the people who needed to be addressing it were doing so, and it didn't effect the building that I was in. I found myself confident and comfortable in the fact that things would be taken care of and if they indeed turned out to effect me, I would be made aware. About a minute later I sent an email to someone who I thought might have been in the building (as she works in an office there) with my well wishes and concern but knowing that she is a responsible adult, I am certain that she evacuated when she was told to and that all is well.
Looking at my response in contrast to the student's response I just shake my head in wonder at how different we are, what drives us and how comical basic daily life can be. There are other things that have gone through my head as you can imagine, but those are best left out of print.
So now I sit here finishing up the blog post so that I can prepare for a meeting even though I have no idea if anyone is going to show up due to the bomb THREAT.
We move forward as we can. My website is going through a face lift but all info is still there.
Have a wonderful rest of Winter and I am sure I will share new insights with you soon!
Go forth and be BRILLIANT!
Stacey
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