Smells Like...

Pesticide. Well, that's what my friend and I thought it was as we walked 10 minutes out to the north part of campus for our first round of observations at 8:00 this morning. It was sickeningly pervasive, a formless cloud of toxic air engulfing our school and, apparently, a part of the city. And even after a breeze came late in the morning and blew most of it away outside, it lingered inside classroom buildings and Peter Hall. 

A gas line broke somewhere - at least that's what one colleague told me. And it must have been a big gas line for it to have such an effect. By the time we got to our destination this morning, I felt sick in my stomach and my lungs burned slightly. I was thankful that most of it was gone by the time we headed toward the east part of campus for our second round of observations at 10:00AM.

I reflected a little about how we would handle something like this in the West, and I feel pretty confident that warnings would have gone out. People would have been encouraged to stay indoors, and schools may have even canceled classes. Undoubtedly, someone would have sued the gas company and those responsible for the tremendous leak, claiming terrible health related issues as the reason. But not here. Common sense dictates a lot of things here, and people cannot draw up law suits as easily, though I have always perceived that there is an attitude of "bearing all things" in this culture. This may be attributed in part to people feeling a lack of power, because they really don't have any - so why fight if you can't win? Another may be attributed to their overwhelming desire to thrive. Students put themselves through an incredible amount of stress to just get into college. And if they don't score well on the college entrance exam (compared to all the other students in their province), they end up paying a lot to go to college, which many really cannot afford. They and their families sacrifice so much to even have the opportunity to build a better life. In the West, we are demanding it as our right. So what's a little gas or smoke, for that matter, when the future is weighing in the balance?