Editorial

4 — Wednesday, April 6, 2022 — North Pointe EDITORIAL

Many Americans consider our country to be the pioneer of the free world, and a totem of liberty, individualism and equality. We strive to be heroes by helping people in other nations who are facing hunger, war and inequality. However, our often good intentions can get caught in the crosshairs of fighting over semantics in the face of catastrophic global crises. If we ever can hope to help another nation in dire need of support, such as Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion, we must put aside our political differences to form a united front. Preaching about the dangers of political disunity and polarization is certainly a platitude, and may even be a moot point. However, the importance of putting aside our domestic political disagreements and uniting to put our best foot forward cannot be overstated.

You can open any social media platform and see the latest attack in a Ukrainian city trending along with a clickbait headline about a celebrity. A bombing on Mariupol that killed innocent people is not in the same league as Kylie Jenner changing her baby’s name from “Wolf.” Though social media can sometimes help bring us together, saying that it can tear us apart is cliche but true. When your biggest “political issue” is feuding with your neighbor on a local Facebook forum over political lawn signs, it

can be hard to grasp the gravity of the situation that Restoring unity in times of crisis What’s not to like about the parking lot? Ukrainians are facing and why it’s so imperative to stop sweating the small stuff. When we get stuck in the minute, essentially pointless arguments and caveats that break up the monotony of day to day life, we start to lose our ability to focus on bigger, more The Grosse Pointe North important issues. High School parking lot and Little battles and small inconveniences seem to its student drivers are quite be grabbing more attention in our lives than actual infamous. The parking lot hardships happening globally. Instead of blaming is well-loved for numerous one political party for an event, we should listen to reasons, but a commonly each other and come together to think of solutions. overlooked quality of the lot is Blaming our president for the U.S. response to the the sheer level of safety it holds war is not stopping the war. Blaming congressmen due to the flawless driving of all and women for not agreeing on whether a law students. After every school day, we get the privilege should pass does not change that law. If we want to to walk out into our dear parking lot. While some might see serious change in the world, the ability to stand compare it to a “zoo” or describe it as “dangerous,” we together needs to become more important than firing stroll to our cars each day with no worries. Above the cheap shots at those we disagree with. deafening noise of the students honking, we sometimes In order to help solve the real issues around the hear our friends describe the drivers as “lunatics” or world, we have to first fix ourselves. We need to “insane,” but we have to disagree. stop the unimportant quarreling with the citizens we The best feeling is stepping into the parking lot and should unite with. Acting like young children instead becoming overwhelmed with a sense of safety. As both of owning up to our current behavior is only going to pedestrians and drivers, we always feel out of harm’s withhold our ability to grow and aid others, as well way. While there might have been a few times either our as ourselves. cars or ourselves have nearly been hit by a car, mistakes happen! So what if you barely passed your drivers test? Leaving the parking lot after school is always the highlight of our day. Nothing compares to the ample time left for reflection after school trying to get our car into the line to leave the lot. After a long day of school, getting to stay there another ten minutes because nobody will let me in the line is such a kind thing for other drivers to do. There seems to be an unspoken code of kindness in the lot that all of our students follow, and our minds are blown every day when we see the courtesy North drivers extend to one another. Besides the occasional friendly honks to say “hello” and the casual fender bender, North’s parking lot is essentially perfect. All North students should rejoice that we are fortunate enough to be blessed with such phenomenal drivers in our lot.

By Kaitlyn Barr & Grace Rossman

SECTION EDITORS

ED DESK

BELLA YOAKAM

YOUR TURN: Why is voting in class elections important?

By Kate Bania INTERN

FRESHMAN ASHLEI ANATALIO: “Voting is important because it allows people to be represented and have their views [and] ideas expressed and acted upon.” SOPHOMORE PHILLIP MOORE: “Us students should have a voice in what goes on in our learning environment and we should be represented in our school.” JUNIOR GRACE KORKMAZ: “Student voting is important because it has the power to give a voice [to] those who can make our student body the best it can be.”

TEACHER CHRISTOPHER TREPANOWSKI:

“Voting is important because it gives everybody the opportunity to choose who they want to represent them [and] to make decisions for them.”

CORRECTIONS: In last issue’s “GP League of Women Voters hosts informational panel on US History”, context was missing from one of history teacher Bridget Cooley’s quotes, which misconstrued the meaning of her statement. Her quote read, “I think it’s a really interesting time period where women are kind of coming out from behind closed doors. It’s also a period where African American music and culture is being widely appreciated,” and should’ve included reference to the 1920s, as that was what Cooley was referring to. In last issue’s “TMP is the place to be”, PJ Sorce was mistakenly identified as a sophomore, while he is a junior. In last issue’s “Spotlight shines on ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ performance”, one of the captions stated that rehearsals took place in Brownell Middle School’s multipurpose room, while they actually took place in North’s multipurpose room.