Rohan Week 14: Memories of Shared Experiences

This Monday, millions of Americans witnessed a total solar eclipse, a once-in-a-lifetime event that is iconic for so many reasons. While the eclipse lasted a few hours, the memories Americans will hold of it will last much longer. 

I recently had an opportunity to read the article “Highlights From the Total Solar Eclipse’s Dark Path Through the U.S., Mexico and Canada” (published in the New York Times) which detailed several Americans’ experiences watching this iconic solar eclipse. 


One new couple “exchanged wedding rings” and then “[donned] eclipse classes.” College students at “Saluki Stadium at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale” attend an eclipse viewing party, where fun games and an exciting game capped off the morning’s festivities. 


In general, the events presented a moment where Americans from every state had an opportunity to build community. It was remarkable to see how special events can help people become united, especially during a time when it seems that polarization seems at an all-time high. The solar eclipse presented a powerful message that as Americans, there is almost always something that we have in common. 


More broadly, this demonstrates the power of a shared memory. All around the world, people create shared memories when they experience a unique event together. While most of the time this is for something positive, it even occurs during negative times, including natural disasters and other traumatic experiences. But no matter the reason, shared memories create a powerful sense of community and help unite people in a way that many other things can not. 


Another interesting aspect of the celebrations of the solar eclipse is that it united people across age groups. The Times article explored how a group of retirees and college students became friends watching the solar eclipse in a rural New England town. Today, it seems that the elderly population and the younger generation could not be more different. From interests to jobs, to preferred forms of entertainment, these two groups are drastically different. However, the shared once-in-a-lifetime experience helped bridge a gaping divide. 


While this year’s solar eclipse is just one shared experience that Americans participated in, it seems like such activities are one way to build a stronger sense of community and understanding in our 21st-century world. 


A photo of the total solar eclipse (source)

Comments

  1. Peter ShrApril 15, 2024 at 8:55 PM

    Hi Rohan! I found your exploration of the power of certain phenomena in uniting our society to be so compelling. I appreciate how your discussion takes advantage of a recent event’s relevance in the minds of people across the globe and molds it into a thought-provoking exploration of the relationship between memory and our sense of unity. Your blog made me reflect on my own experiences of the solar eclipse, going outside with the rest of physics class and seeing the bottom half of the sun clipped by the moon’s silhouette, and ponder on how your conclusions on its ability to unite people extends to my class that day. I appreciate how you drew this topic to deeper-rooted issues in society, as I never would have thought of the solar eclipse as a symbol of the resilience of the human character. Regarding the increasing polarization of the world, especially with the bipartisan system of the United States, I believe that the solar eclipse is able to resonate so deeply partly due to its rarity. In this way, there is an inverse correlation between a phenomenon’s rarity and its ability to bring unity, and this tension further illustrates the division in our world—we will be united on increasingly rarer occasions.

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  2. Ayush ChaurasiaApril 15, 2024 at 9:14 PM

    Hi Rohan! Thank you for sharing this heartwarming article about Americans’ shared experiences with the recent solar eclipse; in a time of excessive political polarization in the country (with presidential elections coming up and divisive wars going on around the world), these stories of unity and collective amazement at something as noncontroversial as the sun are refreshing. I found this blog post to be especially appealing because I also experienced a similar sense of togetherness and community during the eclipse at school, even though it was barely visible from Fremont. I remember standing outside my physics classroom at the beginning of fourth period using a pair of special glasses that my teacher gave me, and looking around to see the rest of my classmates united in their excitement to get their hands on their own pair of glasses. As you said, these shared experiences are highly effective ways to unite people without needing to deal with the negativity of “natural disasters or other traumatic experiences,” and America could benefit from having more of these shared experiences to build a stronger community. This is especially true in the modern world, where the internet leads to the near complete separation of different age groups—as you mentioned in this blog, real connections that span age gaps can best be built with real-world experiences.

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  3. Siddarth KamathApril 17, 2024 at 9:56 PM

    Hello Rohan! I have heard many stories about the eclipse that happened earlier this week and all of my sources have told me its wondrous colors and effects it had on the audience watching. During that day, however, it was school so I was unable to make it there, though my physics teacher gave a lengthy discussion about what happened to catch us up with the details. Fortunately, another student had taken some fantastic pictures and I took them to heart as I saw the absolute beauty in the images that made me smile for a long time. It was great seeing how these natural events can be so wonderful and it sometimes makes me want to focus on astronomy as my passion subject. Another aspect of these eclipses is knowing how they form. Due to the difference of axes of the moon and the sun, it is possible to see these eclipses twice a year and one of them is a total eclipse while the other is partial. The one earlier this week was a total eclipse where for a few minutes the whole area was really dark as if it was late evening at 1pm weather in Texas! Even though I was not there, hearing the experience was enjoyable and breathtaking to note. Thanks for sharing the blog!

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