The Exponent


11/20/01	5 day quick link 11/19 \| 11/16 \| 11/15 \| 11/14 \| 11/13

Recent events strengthen meaning of 'home'

Thanksgiving is finally here. For many of us, this means not only a hot meal or two, but also a trip home.

Home.

A lot has changed in our country in the last semester, and the word "home" has more power now than it ever did before. In unsafe times in our youth, home meant safety and shelter. In strange times now in our adulthood, home might mean very much the same.

Traveling home might raise some anxieties, especially if it involves air travel. Thus it's no surprise that Congress passed new airport security measures Monday, just prior to the busiest air travel day of the year.

Others may drive, and it's important to remember your safety when driving home. Where air travelers are now under the protection of federal security officers, the only one guaranteeing your safety on the road is yourself.

It sounds so simple, but wear a seatbelt, don't speed and make it home alive. There are probably some people there that would like to see you, and chances are you wouldn't mind seeing them instead of being in class.

Others of us might not be lucky enough to make it home this break. To those of you, we hope that Purdue is a sufficient substitute. A university is, after all, not only a home to education but also to those being educated.

Campus may be rather empty, but hopefully those remaining Boilermakers will treat each other with respect and dignity as though they were family and this were their home.

Because they are, and it is.

Happy Thanksgiving, Purdue, we're thankful to have you.

n Editorial Board: Keith Thomas, Tom McHenry, Erica Sagon, Matt Poston, John Wakefield, Shawn McGann.

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