Presents a point of view reflecting the company’s progressive values on an issue of public interest. Editorials are written by staff within the Star’s editorial board, which is independent of the newsroom.
In the rain, Torontonians finally found a shared reality
For all the destruction they cause, those dark clouds also had a silver lining. Amid the deluge it seemed, if just for a moment, that there was more eye contact on city sidewalks, more exchanges of knowing looks not only of frustration but also of sympathy.
Sure, it’s banal. But there’s a reason we talk about the weather. It often seems we have little else in common today, living as we do within our bubbles. But the heat hits us all. The wind batters us equally. And on Tuesday, in Toronto, we were all wet.
The ever-rarer mass shared experience holds a special power in our atomized world. Once, we all watched the same television programs at the same time; today, we watch whatever we want, whenever we want, an audience of one. Once, we picked up our newspaper at the front door and looked at the same front page our neighbours were looking at, read the same stories; today, we consume the news that Google feeds us or that’s echoing around our personalized social-media channels.
These trends have prompted endless hand-wringing in the internet age and with good reason; they are inextricable from the polarization of our politics and the anger and loneliness that studies confirm are all around us. There is, of course, much to celebrate in the proliferation of knowledge and choice the internet has brought, but also, of course, much to worry about, not least how easy it has become in the dark corners of social media to lose sight of one another and our shared humanity.
Tuesday’s downpour was literally a disaster, one made worse by a long history of short-sighted public policy, as the Star argued yesterday. It was dangerous and costly and annoying. But for all the destruction they caused, those dark clouds also had a silver lining. Amid the deluge — with so many of us sopping, so many of us caught in traffic, so many of us trying to get our work done in the dark, so many of us drying our basement floors while filling out insurance forms — it seemed, if just for a moment, that there was more eye contact on city sidewalks, more exchanges of knowing looks not only of frustration but also of sympathy and fellow feeling. The Star’s city columnist, Ed Keenan, observed scenes of communion in the streets, from the comedic to the commiserative. We were no longer scrolling alone.
 It was, to be sure, just a few wet and chaotic hours in the life of Toronto; nothing has fundamentally or forever changed. But there are important lessons here worth learning, and not just the ones about climate change and infrastructure that have for too long been ignored. Let’s hope we don’t forget, now that the clouds have parted.
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