On Tuesday, University of Michigan students circulated an online petition demanding the college close because of approaching severe cold weather. 

It is sad to read the tactic they employed while asking the university to close; UM should close because…

"A refusal to do so is classist and ableist, with disproportionate effects on workers, low income community members, and community members who are not able-bodied.”

A marked inability to express simple concerns without resorting to SJW semantics, histrionics, and rueful accusation defines these students not as snowflakes but rather as slushballs; the icky stuff that soon despoils a beautiful snowfall with cold muddy sludge.

There are shelters open all across our state and thousands of our citizens are right now volunteering their time and effort to minimize the pain and suffering that arctic temperatures have swept across Michigan.

In hard times, which surely arrive upon occasion, most people grab the communal rope and pull together.  But there are always the selfish ones who refuse to aid and assist.  They stand back and jeer the larger effort.  They condemn those who act.  They seize upon a higher moral ground to justify and disguise their lack of true compassion, their inability to act.  They don’t lead, and they certainly won’t follow.  Their narcissism is enfolded in a vanity coated with conceit; they can only accuse others.

This sort can never be part of a community effort because they hate and distrust the community itself.

If just one of these students or their intersectional instructors had an ounce of honest charity in their hearts the petition would have read quite differently.

“We politely ask that the University leave a shelter open for community members most at risk; the library or perhaps the student union.  We, the undersigned, pledge to volunteer our day in service to a greater good.  We will maintain order and civility as we serve this portion of our community so in need of aid and comfort. Thank you for considering this option.”

The fact that such a letter never occurred to them is what makes this whole situation sad.

You would think that fifty thousand dollars a year might result in graduates who at least partially resemble persons of high quality and purpose; an asset to the community.

Instead we get a mortarboard full of narcissists throwing a tantrum and demanding personal attention to their conceits as the community in general rises up to overcome potential disaster.