Austin Siegmund-Broka
Editor-in-Chief
Help can come from the most unlikely of places.
At 7 p.m. on a Wednesday night, roughly a month ago, I was in a tight spot. I was helping prepare an issue of this very newspaper, and we were in dire need of a photograph. Nobody could figure out where we were going to get a shot of Polliwog Park from the 1950s.
Suddenly, I remembered a friend who might be able to help: Alicia Hastey, one of the producers of the Mustang Morning News.
As readers on and off-campus may know, the rivalry between La Vista and Costa’s TV station is a legendary. Ours is a relationship akin to that of UCLA and USC, the Yankees and the Red Sox, or even Luke and Darth Vader.
Despite this, Alicia was very helpful. She searched for the picture on her computer and, not finding it, dug out the address of a local historian.
Realizing the irony of this interaction, I asked myself how this could happen. A producer for the Mustang Morning News helping out an editor-in-chief of La Vista? At last it dawned on me—Alicia didn’t see it that way at all. This was one friend helping another.
The idea moved me. Everyone faces problems, from a best friend to a monotonous history teacher to that weird senior in your P.E. class.
Strife affects all people. Just as La Vista grappled with our picture problem, sports teams have fought back when star players were injured, and teachers have struggled with defiant students.
Furthermore, as the holiday season approaches, it is vital to remember those experiencing hardship outside of our community. Students in poorer areas of Los Angeles may not struggle with crushing homework loads, but they may have a hard time learning in a classroom with no books. Families may not worry about insubordinate teens, but they may worry about putting dinner on the table.
Strife and hardship are universal. Fortunately, there will always be a solution. The responsibility for realizing this solution lies with us all. It is our duty, as students of Mira Costa and as citizens of our community, to make sure that aid, care and kindness are universal.
If we are to solve the problems of the world, we can’t afford to restrict our help to just our close friends or those on our TV broadcast team. As Alicia did for La Vista, we must help each other as human beings, not as friends or even casual acquaintances. Even old enemies and people we’ve never met deserve that kindness.
There is universal benefit involved—helping one person helps not just that one, but the entire community. We probably would have gotten a paper out if Alicia hadn’t helped, but it would have been a much more stressful and difficult process.
Following Alicia’s example, we can only create a better experience at Mira Costa if we make sure that help is as universal as hardship.
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