by Sarah McCall ’26 on March 19, 2026
Editor's Column
Hi Friars! I hope you all had a great spring break! I just got back from San Juan, Puerto Rico with eight of my friends. We spent our trip going to El Yunque National Forest, exploring Old San Juan, and enjoying time by the beach. It was a nice distraction from the real world.. However, just because I was able to sit on the beach for a few days does not mean the world stops. This concept is something that I have been struggling with for awhile. How can a person appropriately respond to global, national, and local tragedies while maintaining their own mental wellbeing and success in this world?
Last semester, after the shooting at Brown University, students at Providence College were distraught for a few days, yet the completion of a semester and the joy of holidays easily overtook these feelings and students moved on. I too went home, celebrated birthdays, holidays, and spent time with my family. Yet, some families had a completely different experience. They were in mourning of family members lost, still reeling from the pain caused by gun violence. This shooting was such a deep tragedy, yet members of the same community were able to move on after a few days.
I don’t fault those who moved on. Instead, I just aim to understand why that is. I believe a lot of it has to do with the consistency of events like this. I am not only referring to gun violence, but also actions taken by the federal government, global inequality, environmental tragedy, and global conflict. There is constant hardship in our communities, and it can be difficult to focus on every event and dedicate time and energy into mourning. For example, the morning after the shooting at Brown, I opened my phone to receive any updates that may have come overnight. However, instead of immediately seeing information about the shooting at Brown, all I saw was information about a shooting in Bondi Beach, Australia. There was no time to process one shooting before another became the top story, hours later. Not to mention how many other tragedies happened that night that couldn’t make the top story on the New York Times app.
It is deeply exhausting to engage with these tragedies due to their emotional toll and the consistency in which they occur. Therefore, I think it is important to recognize the need to maintain mental wellbeing. It is so easy to feel burnout and helplessness towards a situation. It can create complacency, always feeling worn down by the world. A consistent state of mourning does not allow for the time or ability to get up and make change. That is why I feel it is important to find this balance. Humans are tied together through community and happiness. Finding that for yourself will help you assist in ensuring its existence elsewhere.
Because I was able to feel authentic happiness exploring a new place with my friends, I want everyone else to experience that happiness. That, then, becomes my motivation for inciting change and working with my community to create a better world. Finding balance is hard, and I am still working on it, but I know it is mandatory for humanity’s sake.