2008 Woodie Awards
Remembering Meg Sanders
Elizabeth Goldberg
Issue date: 9/29/05 Section: Opinion
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The heartbreaking death of Meg Sanders this past week has unfortunately reminded us that our lovely campus is not a safe haven from tragedy, even on Mountain Day. It provides clear evidence of our own mortality, even as young college students. It has also spurred some heated conversations on campus over what it means to have someone, who is not a Smith student, die on campus, and what our responsibilities are as members of this campus community. Right now, as of this writing on Sunday, there are flowers at the site of the accident and a vigil planned for an evening this week. Some have questioned if it is appropriate for us to attend a vigil, to have an outcry-indeed, are any of us in mourning? Should we all be in mourning over a death than happened on our campus, a place that we can all claim as our own? What do we do now?
I disagree with those who say that we have nothing to be sad about, care about, or have no place in mourning. Indeed, there are more reasons to care about this tragedy than just because it happened at our doorstep. Meg could have been any one of us-a young woman, an activist, a traveler, a college graduate. We must mourn the loss of a young woman who clearly had so much to offer our Northampton community and nation. For this, we have the right to grieve. We are Valley community members too.
As members and residents of the campus we are obligated to provide a space of reflection for those who need to mourn the death. We should attend to the flowers that are there and be respectful of people who place them, Smith students or not. We should not criticize other Smith students for grieving or not grieving; moreover, we should not decide for them what is appropriate or not at this complicated time. Some people have likened it to going to a stranger's funeral-- for the reasons I have already articulated above, I do not think that is the case.
As Smith College students we have the responsibility to take action in Meg's memory. There is no law to change or thing to fix in order to prevent such an accident from happening in the future-I am addressing a different type of action. We must reflect on how we approach our own life and work and know that what we do in the here and now is more important than what we say we might do later. If it takes a horror such as this one to make us remember how short life is, to be cliché, than we must take the opportunity to rid ourselves of apathy and cynicism to pursue the causes that are important to us, whether AIDS, cleaner air, sustainable living, anti-war, or even a better Smith community.
It is unhealthy to let this tragedy go by without notice, and yet, in some ways disrespectful to "claim" the tragedy and remembrance as a Smith community responsibility alone-this is part of the mourning process for the bereaved. We all must support each other in remembrance and moving forward; we must walk downtown and then up again towards our ivory tower with a renewed sense of responsibility and reverence.
I disagree with those who say that we have nothing to be sad about, care about, or have no place in mourning. Indeed, there are more reasons to care about this tragedy than just because it happened at our doorstep. Meg could have been any one of us-a young woman, an activist, a traveler, a college graduate. We must mourn the loss of a young woman who clearly had so much to offer our Northampton community and nation. For this, we have the right to grieve. We are Valley community members too.
As members and residents of the campus we are obligated to provide a space of reflection for those who need to mourn the death. We should attend to the flowers that are there and be respectful of people who place them, Smith students or not. We should not criticize other Smith students for grieving or not grieving; moreover, we should not decide for them what is appropriate or not at this complicated time. Some people have likened it to going to a stranger's funeral-- for the reasons I have already articulated above, I do not think that is the case.
As Smith College students we have the responsibility to take action in Meg's memory. There is no law to change or thing to fix in order to prevent such an accident from happening in the future-I am addressing a different type of action. We must reflect on how we approach our own life and work and know that what we do in the here and now is more important than what we say we might do later. If it takes a horror such as this one to make us remember how short life is, to be cliché, than we must take the opportunity to rid ourselves of apathy and cynicism to pursue the causes that are important to us, whether AIDS, cleaner air, sustainable living, anti-war, or even a better Smith community.
It is unhealthy to let this tragedy go by without notice, and yet, in some ways disrespectful to "claim" the tragedy and remembrance as a Smith community responsibility alone-this is part of the mourning process for the bereaved. We all must support each other in remembrance and moving forward; we must walk downtown and then up again towards our ivory tower with a renewed sense of responsibility and reverence.