Student credits text messages for saving sanity
Tahman Bradley, Contributing Writer
Issue date: 9/8/05 Section: COVER
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"Its Underwater....Everything underwater."
Stunned by the reality that her house had probably been destroyed, Cutno ran out of class and began crying. "I will never, ever forget that text message," she said. "When I was getting those messages, it was like a knife going through my heart." Her mind wandered back to her mom, who had not responded to any of the text messages Cutno had sent. How she was doing? What she was doing? She says she always believed her mom was O.K., but couldn't be sure.
"I knew she was okay, but I needed to hear her voice, 'cause you know you need that reassurance," Cutno said. As she sent message after message to her mom, she began to wonder if maybe her mom simply did not know how to send her a message.
"My mom is not like savvy at all with phones or anything," she said. "So, I was like maybe she doesn't know how to use her text messaging."
On Friday, Sept. 2, with a good sense that most of her family was O.K., Cutno would head to campus to deal with housing issues, accidentally leaving her telephone at her friend's house. When she returned that evening, she had received a message dated Sept. 1, at 2:26 p.m. from her mom. The words were run together:
"icannotcallu"
Then she knew her entire immediate family was safe.
Cutno believes text messaging saved her sanity. "What would happen if we didn't have text messaging? How many people would be going out of their minds if we didn't have text messages?" she asked rhetorically. ""This is nothing but God; I really believe that. That can only be a miracle."
Stunned by the reality that her house had probably been destroyed, Cutno ran out of class and began crying. "I will never, ever forget that text message," she said. "When I was getting those messages, it was like a knife going through my heart." Her mind wandered back to her mom, who had not responded to any of the text messages Cutno had sent. How she was doing? What she was doing? She says she always believed her mom was O.K., but couldn't be sure.
"I knew she was okay, but I needed to hear her voice, 'cause you know you need that reassurance," Cutno said. As she sent message after message to her mom, she began to wonder if maybe her mom simply did not know how to send her a message.
"My mom is not like savvy at all with phones or anything," she said. "So, I was like maybe she doesn't know how to use her text messaging."
On Friday, Sept. 2, with a good sense that most of her family was O.K., Cutno would head to campus to deal with housing issues, accidentally leaving her telephone at her friend's house. When she returned that evening, she had received a message dated Sept. 1, at 2:26 p.m. from her mom. The words were run together:
"icannotcallu"
Then she knew her entire immediate family was safe.
Cutno believes text messaging saved her sanity. "What would happen if we didn't have text messaging? How many people would be going out of their minds if we didn't have text messages?" she asked rhetorically. ""This is nothing but God; I really believe that. That can only be a miracle."