Despite the fact that our class only met once this week, I found it one of the most educational experiences. While participating in the walkout, it touched me how many people of the Bucknell community chose to come together and support those who have been and will be effected by the executive order. In the spirit of our discussion on Thursday, and as a continuation of the past discussions we have had, I have found myself further analysing the situations in which I find myself as well as the state of the world today in an attempt to put it all into perspective of this class, and I find the walkout to perfectly encapsulate all of these things. As was the case with Hank Morgan in Twain’s novel, I have noticed a particular transformation of energy amongst the greater Bucknell community. While many people may have tried to make a difference alone, or have felt pain brought about by the executive order, or have been at a loss for what to do, there was always a bit of an aimlessness to the energy spent, not unlike the bowing of the man or the aimless wandering of the knights, whose energy Morgan was able to harness and transform into something useful for him, whether that be a sewing machine or free advertisement. And like Morgan, this walkout was able to harness the energy of many within the community, to educate, to show support, to share pain, and to make a difference. And since the walkouts have begun at this school, I really have noticed a shift in the energy and the atmosphere at Bucknell, shifting away from the individual in favour of a supportive community. Similarly to what was raised in the human motor regarding the increased productivity of workers once the product they were producing was made available to them, it seems as though by making the issues addressed during the walkout more accessible to those not directly impacted by them, there will be in increase in activism and a sense of community and caring around campus, and hopefully around the country.
While the walkout has been able to do so much for those willing to stand in the cold and sacrifice an hour and a half of their lives to attend, it was not just the people who were able to incite change, but the technology they were able to have access to. It was through technology that I was first able to hear about the walkout, and it is through technology that I and countless others am able to stay abreast with today’s news. And yet, as wonderful as this technology is, it is not blameless in the great divide of our country. It was discussed in my walkout that it is due in part to technology that the American news rarely shares impartial stories, and thus few people are exposed to an unbiased truth about the world today. Most people only listen to, watch, or read the news provided by supporters of their party, and thus are only exposed to a biased truth, and sometimes not even a truth at that. As is the case with reading articles or anything else, people ought to question what it is they are being told, and further investigate themselves; however, so few people have the patients to question what they are being told, and instead accept everything and pass it on to the next person. Thus in many cases, people who fight about different sides of something do so because they do not know what it is that the other person holds to be true, and neither do they attempt to know. As wonderful as technology can be, it is at the same time something to be wary of, since it may just be one of the things driving us all apart.