Snowbored

Managing Editor

   Maybe I've been stuck in the house with my family too long, but I think I've finally had enough of this snow business.

   I have little patience for inconveniences that restrict my movement. I have too much to do and, well, refund checks did just come out so it's time for me to patriotically do my part for the economy.

   Don't get me wrong--it's not that I minded several extra days to study for my stats test. The prospect of school closings makes me as excitable as a kid hoping to get snowed out of fourth grade. And yeah, I suppose it's pretty to look at when you live in the South and don't have to shovel your driveway every morning.

   But people behaved as if the blizzard of the century approached, threatening to bury us under feet of snow rather than a few inches of it. 

   Forgetting the fact that so many people are given to panic at the prospect of tiny ice crystals falling from the sky, I made what was supposed to be a quick run to a grocery store near my home to grab a few snacks only to find that the general public, at least around Rison, had gone completely batty. 

   They had bought all the meat. All of it.

   They grabbed pretty much everything else in the store too, including all of the toilet paper. People continued to flood in to find long lines and nearly empty shelves. Cashiers seemed flustered and irritable. The storm, at this time, wasn't due to hit for another 12 hours, but people were running. Running.

   The horror that must have been Wal-Mart.

   And we were “snowbound” for barely two days, with temperatures in the 60s predicted for the weekend.

   All ridiculousness aside, it's human nature to batten down the hatches when storms are on the horizon. It's understandably comforting to know that if you're going to be stuck at home for a few days at least you're not going to run out of Doritos. Like an overdue, nesting pregnant woman, we like to have more than what we need and then some when we know something is about to break off. 

   I get that. After all, though I wasn't stocking my freezer, I was at the store too. But what I mostly want to know is: Why did people think they would need that much toilet paper?

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