2B
Wednesday, January 13, 2016 // The Statement

FLINT WATER CRISIS
ON THE 
RECORD

“This is not my legacy. This is part of my legacy because 
I’m responsible for the entire state and our operations. 

But there are many other good things going on and we’re 

working hard to recover.” 

— Michigan Gov. RICK SNYDER (R) on the impact of the Flint 

Water Crisis on his legacy as governor

***

“If you were to put something in a population to keep 
them down for generation and generations to come, it 

would be lead ... It drops your IQ, it affects your behavior, 

it’s been linked to criminality, it has multigenerational 

impacts. There is no safe level of lead in a child.”

— Flint pediatrician DR. MONA HANNA-ATTISHA on the 

neurological impacts of elevated lead levels in Flint’s water on the 

city’s population

Zooming In: Not faring well

F

or as long as I can remember, 
I’ve been afraid of endings. I 
don’t mean to say the past 19 

years have been plagued with a looming 
fear of death or apocalyptic destruction. 
I’m talking about an inner reluctance 
to move on from, let go of and say good-
bye to the people, places and events that 
have shaped my life.

Common emotional challenges for me 

include — but are by no means limited to 
— birthdays, new years and major mile-
stones.

I can still remember tearing up on my 

13th birthday. When my parents asked 
me what was wrong, I told them I was 
sad I would no longer be a kid. “Yeah, 
it’s all downhill from here,” my Dad 
said, trying to make me laugh the way he 
always does.

But that wasn’t quite it. I wasn’t afraid 

of facing the future, becoming an adult 
or accepting new responsibilities. Nor 
was I in mourning of the frizzy, awk-
ward rollercoaster that was my pre-
teenage existence.

I just wasn’t ready to let go of 12-years-

old. I guess most would classify my con-
dition as a fear of change. But to me it 
seems much more complex.

I felt a similar sadness while taking 

one last look at my classmates before 
leaving my senior celebration on the 
night of graduation. I should clarify that 
my high school career was nothing more 
than typical. To give you the Reader’s 
Digest version of those four years: I sur-
vived.

By the time I’d committed to Michi-

gan, I was very ready for new people, 
buildings and experiences. Yet no mat-
ter how excited I was to move on, I could 
not escape the inevitable churning in my 
stomach that came during graduation.

It’s hard to explain what I was feeling 

because I knew I would stay close to the 
people I truly cared long after gradu-
ation. But what about everyone — and 
everything — else?

There wasn’t a chance I would miss 

the rigid bell schedule, mandatory math 
classes and stereotypically segregated 
cliques I’d endured in high school. Yet, 
I still couldn’t help but feel sad that I 
would never be in the same place with 
the same people doing the same things 
again. That’s what bothers me the most 
about endings. 

There remains something very sad to 

me about coming to the realization that, 
in that moment, I was taking my last 
look at the group of people who — for 
better or worse — collectively shaped 
my high school experience and there-
fore the person I am today.

It’s obviously much easier to pin-

point the reason behind my sadness as 
I watched my brother pack the car in 
preparation for his freshman year of 
college. I would miss him completely, 
and living at home never felt quite right 
after he left.

But I’ve come to realize that it’s not 

impossible to miss things I never nec-
essarily valued. I guess all emotions 
attached to different people and places 
— whether good or bad — are what make 
them real and therefore hard to let go of.

B Y L A R A M O E L H M A N

COVER BY SHANE ACHENBACH

“On New Year’s Resolutions: Don’t worry, there’s 

always next year. In the meantime, have a New Year’s 

Reflection instead.” -Akhil Kantipuly, LSA Senior 

– LSA senior AKHIL KANTIPULY

EMILIE FARRUGIA/DAILY

THOUGHT BUBBLE
RESOLUTIONS 

