Since we recently launched the safety series about how the university plans to react to various disasters, I figured it would be a good time to plug something that has been on my mind lately: USI Rave.

I’m not here to say that Rave is the be-all and end-all of campus safety. But I do think that I, along with many other students, often take its services for granted. Think about it. Every time there are inclement weather conditions, you get a call or text informing you about it.

I have it set up to where I get both, which I typically find to be annoying.

Really though, what’s annoying about being consistently helpful? I need a reality check.

A few days ago – I can’t remember how many – I received both a phone call and text telling me that the Office of Public Safety’s phone line had been interrupted. Both messages provided me with an alternate number to call if I needed to reach the office for some reason.

Of course, when I first answered the phone call and received the text, I determined that it didn’t really concern me at the time because I wasn’t on campus. So I dismissed it as unimportant.

It wasn’t until I got the second call and text telling me that the phone line was functioning again that I realized how big of a deal this sequence of events really was.

Even if it didn’t affect me directly, it still kept me in the loop and made me feel that I am in good hands when I’m on campus.

It’s easy to forget the role that other people and organizations play in your life. It’s easy, even, to view yourself as the hero of your story: the character who all things are affected by. But it’s never that simple. There are always people working to make things easier for you – people who often go unthanked yet trudge on to perform their duty.

So take time to be thankful for those people. And next time you get a message from USI Rave, just remember that someone is looking out for you.