Schools

Central District eighth-grader looks back at Hurricane Sandy

Posted

Editor’s note: Morgan is an eighth-grader at Merrick Avenue Middle School in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District.

As everyone knows, the East Coast was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 29. People lost power. Many lost their homes. Some even lost their lives.

During this nightmare, though, we gained friendship, trust and the realization that even if you have lost your home or your car, you still have family. I experienced this firsthand.

After the storm disappeared and everyone went outside to assess the damage, we started to clean up. We didn’t need someone to tell us to get started; we just did it ourselves. People helped other people in need. Many people supplied safe places for storm victims to stay. I evacuated, but I didn’t go too far.

I stayed at my grandparent’s house during the storm, and that was interesting. We had just lost power, and we were all standing in the living room talking when, all of a sudden, we heard “boom!” A tree had fallen on my grandparent’s house. I got scared because I had a feeling this would happen. I started panicking and thinking things like, “Is the tree going to fall all the way on the house? Are we going to get hurt or die? What are we still doing here? I want to go anywhere but here.”

The tree stayed in place, but I made sure to sleep on the other side of the house. And the sleeping situation was very interesting –– but that’s another story. Luckily, the next day neighbors came over to help us cover the hole that the tree had made, move all the furniture and clothing, and give us blankets so that we didn’t freeze. I was happy people did that because every little thing counts, as the saying goes. Yes, we didn’t have power for a few days, but we had people around us who loved us. Friends and family tried to help out every way possible, and it really helped.

During this hurricane, I lived the magic of the moment. When the storm hit, I was scared, but I pushed past it. I needed to help in any way I could. And I wasn’t the only one who felt obliged. When times became difficult, family, friends and neighbors came together to make a very difficult time bearable. And because of this, it was more than the magic of the moment. It was the magic of my lifetime.