Spring Break Reflection

                So for spring break I came to Ft. Lauderdale, FL to visit my brother and his wife.  It’s been an interesting vacation so far. Tonight, my sister-in-law and I watched this movie called “Day After Tomorrow”. Typically, I do not like these “end-of-the-world” type movies. When we first started watching the movie, I did not realize that it would be that type of movie. But 15 minutes into, I started to realize that I was not going to be like sitting through it. My sister-in-law convinced me to keep watching the movie though, so I did. The premise of the movie is basically that this man who was a scientist of some type, geologist, meteorologist, etc. I’m not sure, was somewhere in Antarctica drilling a hole in the polar ice cap when it began to break a part. He realized that global warming had begun to take drastic effects on the environment and the ice was melting. He then tried to present this information to the VP of USA, but the man was not willing to believe that action needed to be taken immediately in order to preserve nature because it cost too much money. Then strange things began happening all over the world. There was hail the size of beach balls in Japan, horrible ice storms in Europe, etc.  The main character began to recognize that an ice age was occurring and he tried to persuade those around him to see the changes as well. A horrible tornado-like storm destroyed California and hurricane’s began hitting New York. An ice storm then completely destroyed the upper half of North America, killing people who were outside instantly.

                The movie itself was pretty good, once I was able to sit and watch the entire thing. I will probably never watch it again because I don’t really like movies like that, but it really made me begin to think. We have been learning about the environment in this class and how we can have an impact to better our society. While the movie was kind of dramatic in its interpretation of global warming, I think that it really struck me because it depicted a possibility of what can eventually happen to our world as we know it if we are not careful. I think that what I really liked about this movie was that the main character stood up for what he believed in, despite the fact that no one else thought it was real. He spoke out to others, sharing his information with them and tried to encourage the VP to take a stance immediately. Although a move was eventually made and people started to finally believe him, it was too late for the people who lived in the North by then. I also admired the main character’s son. During the movie, he was stuck in New York but was able to speak to his father once. His father told him a deadly storm was coming and the best thing for him to do was stay inside and try to stay warm. A group of people who were at the library with the son decided that it would be a better idea for them to walk out of the city. The son tried to share his father’s advice with anyone who would listen but a older police officer felt that he knew what was better.  I thought that the son was courageous to speak up against older adults and state what he felt was right. He took on a leadership position with the small group of people who stayed behind and they were eventually rescued.  That also connected back to what we have been talking about in class because he stood up for what he believed in. We also see that leadership is not age specific, but instead can be found in any individual who is willing to stand up for what he or she believes is right.

                I felt that that there some great connections in the movie to the ideas we have been discussing in class. I would recommend everyone watching this movie if they get a chance.