A disaster is known to be a catastrophic event, one resulting in major loss of property and/or life, doing a massive amount of damage and leaving trauma and destruction in its wake. Not exactly rainbows and sunshine, is it? So why disaster, you might ask.
There are two ways to understand where we were coming from when we decided on this topic. Disaster, as a concept, is one that we often use metaphorically or as a hyperbole. It's easy to look at a bad day or an event gone wrong or something mildly upsetting and say, "Well, that was a disaster." Disaster has come to signify, at least in informal contexts, chaos.
At the same time, it's undeniable that we live in a world that's fraught with uncertainty—we have no way of predicting what can happen to us and what can render us vulnerable. Whether it's the socio-political unrest of today or the tsunami of 2004, there's always something bigger than us that can upset the stability of our lives. Disaster situations always require rehabilitation, adjustment, and being ready to adapt to change. While there is grief, there can be celebration too, for people's resilience, for being able to survive, for finding strength in community.
On a more personal level, it's easy to use disaster as a descriptor, but what does that mean to us? The topic for this issue was agreed on when one of our beloved secretaries made a joke about us being disasters, and as a team, our stance on this was, "Alright, we're disasters, that's fine. That's something to be proud of, too."
We feel like it's important to know that you're not in control of everything, and that even the best ideas may not proceed according to play. We also feel like, as people, nobody can be perfect. Understanding and celebrating our imperfections, and embracing the disastrous parts of ourselves alongside the better parts of us is the only way we can grow and become the people we want to be. It's the most wholesome form of self-love, even if some would consider it radical.
End of the day, we live in a world that's disaster-prone, and we as humans are not infallible, either. We hope this issue gives you something to think about, broadens your perspective, and makes you understand the concept of a disaster in a different way.
There are two ways to understand where we were coming from when we decided on this topic. Disaster, as a concept, is one that we often use metaphorically or as a hyperbole. It's easy to look at a bad day or an event gone wrong or something mildly upsetting and say, "Well, that was a disaster." Disaster has come to signify, at least in informal contexts, chaos.
At the same time, it's undeniable that we live in a world that's fraught with uncertainty—we have no way of predicting what can happen to us and what can render us vulnerable. Whether it's the socio-political unrest of today or the tsunami of 2004, there's always something bigger than us that can upset the stability of our lives. Disaster situations always require rehabilitation, adjustment, and being ready to adapt to change. While there is grief, there can be celebration too, for people's resilience, for being able to survive, for finding strength in community.
On a more personal level, it's easy to use disaster as a descriptor, but what does that mean to us? The topic for this issue was agreed on when one of our beloved secretaries made a joke about us being disasters, and as a team, our stance on this was, "Alright, we're disasters, that's fine. That's something to be proud of, too."
We feel like it's important to know that you're not in control of everything, and that even the best ideas may not proceed according to play. We also feel like, as people, nobody can be perfect. Understanding and celebrating our imperfections, and embracing the disastrous parts of ourselves alongside the better parts of us is the only way we can grow and become the people we want to be. It's the most wholesome form of self-love, even if some would consider it radical.
End of the day, we live in a world that's disaster-prone, and we as humans are not infallible, either. We hope this issue gives you something to think about, broadens your perspective, and makes you understand the concept of a disaster in a different way.