Our Priorities, Backward
This past summer has been revealing in many ways, and one of the biggest revelations I’ve had was on Exeter’s priorities, as compared to those of the world at large. Two weeks ago, Principal Rawson officially opened the school year at the annual start of school assembly, giving a speech on Exeter’s new priorities. I remember my prep year, when then-principal Lisa MacFarlane gave a speech on ending sexual assault and harassment at Exeter, marking it one of the administration’s major goals for the year. This year, Principal Rawson spoke about the ongoing attempts to make Exeter a more inclusive environment, one that is sensitive to all creeds of people.
I was somewhat disappointed, however, by the lack of regard for other events that occurred this past summer. Surely the fight over Mauna Kea in Hawaii, or Hurricane Dorian, deserve mention. However, I’m going to focus on two issues the world faced this summer: the terrorist shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas and the Brazilian-president sponsored burning of the Amazon.
I want to clarify: I’m not writing this piece to call Principal Rawson out, or try to speak truth to power, and I know that Principal Rawson has mentioned such issues before. This is specifically about what was left out at the start of school assembly—arguably one of our most symbolic gatherings—and what that says about our community.
Brazilian President Bolsonaro is well known for his anti-environmentalist stances. While encouraging people to call him “Captain Chainsaw,” he says that the official reports on the amount of deforestation in the Amazon is “bad advertising” and argues that the Amazon harms Brazilian farmers. Bolsonaro also spoke against German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron, arguing that the leaders should not interfere in Brazil’s problems.
But issues like this deserve to be talked about. According to the UN, we only have 11 years to solve the problem of climate change, and I don’t know about anyone else, but I have no desire to grow up in a world destroyed by the actions of people who were too foolish to realize the significance of the natural world.
In calling for greater discussion surrounding climate events, it is important to note that the law firm Latham and Watkins, where Principal Rawson was formerly employed, advises the corporate agrochemical giant Monsanto, aiding anti-environment efforts in the Amazon. Still, Exeter has only ever allotted only one Climate Action Day per year, when we all sit down and talk about the future of Earth and how we can help prevent global warming. It’s urgent that we have more of those conversations, and as the years pass, it only becomes more urgent.
I will remember my reactions to the back-to-back shootings this summer for the rest of my life. A couple days after the Dayton shooting, my parents and I woke up at 8 a.m. to go grocery shopping at Meijer. The reason we woke up so early was because we had been too afraid to go the night before, and we assumed it would be safer in the morning. That morning, I was looking over my shoulder constantly while shopping. I was afraid of everyone, and I wasn’t the only one. Trevor Noah, on the Daily Show, reported on a motorcycle backfiring in Times Square. The motorcycle backfired, causing a riot in Times Square because people thought that they were about to be shot. Some were even sent to the hospital due to injuries they sustained during the stampede. Noah labeled this incident America’s “mass shooting PTSD.” Essentially, the sheer amount of mass shootings that have occurred just this year alone has changed the behavior of Americans. We are afraid to go out in public. We are afraid to carry backpacks in public spaces. Even something harmless like owning a motorcycle can be dangerous now.
For everyone, especially young people like me, it’s important that we have conversations around these topics, if only as a way to put our feelings into the open. I don’t want to live in fear of mass shootings or global warming, and to find solutions we need conversation. I acknowledge that an hour isn’t enough time to talk about these issues, especially when you also have to introduce the new teachers, recognize the emeriti and read the Deed of Gift, but even a simple nod to these problems would do. Saying “I stand in solidarity against the mass shootings and the purposeful burning of the Amazon” would at the very least get people thinking about these issues. I’m not saying we shouldn’t attempt to make Exeter more inclusive. I’m saying that we can think simultaneously about about those subjects and climate change, mass shootings and other pressing issues we face. Even though sometimes we should hold off on an issue in order to fully solve another, a brief mention of the problems we face would do wonders for those issues—it would start conversations.