To say the least, the last few months of school have been… hectic. From the instances of racism, to the protests in response to said racism, to the tragedy at Oxford, to the pandemic everyone seems to have forgotten about, normalcy is a distant memory at Bloomfield Hills High School. Sometimes it may seem like we have nothing, and our lives are falling apart as the world is crumbling around us. However, that is anything but true; there is a secret ability many overlook in the face of adversity. And that ability is… friendship. 

   It may sound silly, and I can assure you I am a teenage boy and not some animated pony about to sing a little song. Still, the only thing that can get this community through such a difficult time is… friendship. 

   The human brain is a complicated thing that will most likely never be understood. But what we do understand (from personal experience) is that the human brain can tremor under pressure; sometimes we need a shoulder to lean on when the times get tough. Even still, after instances like this, eventually it’ll be like nothing ever happened, and you will forget. However, once in a while times are more than just ‘tough’ and one shoulder isn’t enough. Once in a while, you can’t stop thinking about that one atrocity someone committed completely unrelated to you, and it warps your perception in a way that is simply horrifying. In cases like this, the brain won’t simply tremor; it will collapse. These are the times where if you don’t receive that necessary human contact, you will lose every tether you have to normalcy. However, in these times it is not the full responsibility of the victim to manage that pain, but also the people around the victim who have the job of mending those mental wounds and double knotting the tethers to normalcy.

   Although we can lean on one another to mend these wounds, there must also be a way to prevent further injury. Even though it is debatable what change must be made, the only way to make said change is through cooperation with the same people who helped you mend those original wounds; one person, no matter how strong, stands no chance against a dragon, though an army of one million, no matter how strong, has a decent chance at victory.

   No matter how tough the times get, the only thing we can count on is each other. Now is the time to band together and help each other, because if we don’t, we are doomed to failure.