On Wednesday, March 23, 2016, a bomb threat was sent to my school, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS). Yes, a bomb threat is quite a big deal no matter where it is sent to. Bombs are generally terrifying things, of course. However, this particular threat was a bit traumatizing for me. And it's not because I'm from a small town where a bomb threat would be an unimaginable situation to deal with, due to the very limited places of importance we have, but rather because of the reactions of those around me.
This bomb threat was on the 23rd, which means it was the day after the devastating attacks in Brussels. The attacks in Brussels on the 22nd occurred at Brussels Zaventem Airport's Departure Hall and Maalbeek metro station, two of the three detonated bombs exploding in the airport while the third was at the metro station. Yet another bomb was found later during the search of the airport. In these attacks, a total of 35 people were killed, including the three suicide bombers, and over 300 people were injured. The group that took responsibility for the attacks was ISIS, the infamous terrorist group that is wreaking havoc and terror all over the world.
Having a bomb threat at your school after such a devastating attack would normally cause a little more panic in the school population, but everyone was so oddly calm about it all. I was more terrified of the people's reactions than the bomb threat itself.
The threat at MCPHS was one of many in the city of Boston, though many later questioned why our school specifically was part of the others. It’s the smallest and probably most insignificant college in the bunch of colleges concentrated in the area; being overshadowed by colleges like Harvard Medical School right across the street and MassArt which is quite literally three feet away from the side entrance of MCPHS.
Why our school? Why any building, really?
A surprising scene that many people witnessed was the fifth year Pharmacy students (pictured above in their white lab coats) being evacuated to the Evan's Way Park down the road, and instead of waiting patiently to be let back into the school to return to their presentations, they continued presenting in the park. The judges had been evacuated along with them, so why not? They were all so focused on their presentations that the bomb threat wasn't that big of a deal to them.
Incredibly enough, the school didn't cancel any classes later on, even though MassArt did. The school next to us had a much better system of emergency, the school sending out Tweets to their students, explaining the situation as it happened, while MCPHS sent an explanatory email about an hour after the school had already let students back into the building. The school's emergency system has to be improved upon so as to avoid terrifying and potentially dangerous consequences. Thankfully, the threat this time had no true consequences, but if it happens again, next time could be a complete disaster.
Coupled with the terrible emergency system the school has, the complete indifference of the students being let into the building was incredible.
A common reaction I saw that day that left me a bit speechless was the desensitized unconcern from all of my fellow future healthcare providers. When security guards began to evacuate us, I quickly texted my best friend to make sure she was alright as I walked out of the MassArt cafeteria across the street with my friends, baffled by her answer.
“I’m in class,” she replied, completely nonchalant.
I quickly explained that there was a bomb threat and she continued replying in a calm way, finally notifying me that she was then evacuated five minutes after my initial text.
Later on, after the building was cleared and everyone was allowed back into the school, I asked her why she was so cool about the whole situation. She looked up at me from her seat with confused eyes, her head tilting.
“I’m used to it,” she said, matter-of-factly, wondering why I was making such a big deal out of something like this. “This is Massachusetts, dude. This is completely normal here. My high school used to get bomb threats all the time,” she continued to say, looking back down at her phone, uncaring as I stared at her in shock.
This was a future doctor I was talking to about a bomb threat, and she was so casual about it. I initially thought that maybe it was just her personality and experience with bomb threats that allowed her to be so cool about such a situation, but no. It wasn’t just her.
My other friends who I had walked out of the cafeteria to safety with all had been chattering as we walked, two of them that had a chemistry lab later on that day looking at the bomb threat as an opportunity to escape from three hours of hell rather than a potentially dangerous bomb threat.
Even later on during that day, hours after the bomb threat had occurred, I listened as my friend recounted a conversation she had with one of our Arab friends soon after the ordeal.
“I feel so bad for him. He came up to me and started talking about the situation, his face so sad. He told me that once security starts looking for suspects, he just knows that people of his background may become suspects simply because they’re Arab. That’s so terrible…”
“But so true in this day and age,” I quietly added, her head immediately nodding at my words.
“It’s so terrible, but it has a hint of truth in it,” she breathed, her face falling in grief.
The reactions of those around me over such a situation made me think about the current condition of our world. If such an ordeal in a small but diverse school population can spark so many different reactions, what are the bombings around the world causing in the world population?
