Where Boardwalks Beckoned, a Way of Life Lies in Splinters: a non fiction reading response.

In New Jersey, Hurricane Sandy has ripped the boardwalk to pieces, along with houses, businesses, and lives. However, the boardwalks were something else all together, they connected the shore and they held so many memories. Of course, the boardwalk will be rebuilt, because the shore is a big part of the tourism economy in New Jersey. Even after the boardwalk is rebuilt and stronger than before, many of the memories and iconic places on the shore have been washed away.
“The boardwalks summed up a ruined way of life.” The boardwalk is something that the residents loved and grew up with, something that they can always count on being there. One resident described the boardwalk as a talisman; “If I’m ever going to through something or feeling certain a way, I come to the Boardwalk…I just look out at the water and I can just clear my head…” We’ve all had that one thing, whether it’s a toy or a teddy bear that’s irreplaceable. For example, one day a two-piece button fell off my hat and one piece was lost. I was crushed when it broke because of the memories. My mom fixed it, but it will never be the same. As Chris Christie said, “(the boardwalk) will be different because many of the iconic things that made it what it was are now gone…” The boardwalk is their hat. It will never be what it once was.
As I mentioned before, the boardwalk was a way of life. A mayor with a town on the ocean describes biking down with his daughters to play on the boardwalk, almost a summer ritual. We all have a summer ritual, for example, I usually go to Florida in the summer. My and my friends also started a summer tradition of going to Luna Park and spending a day on the boardwalk in Coney Island. Now these residents have years of tradition ruined by a hurricane.
The best thing is to store those precious memories in your brain so you’ll never forget them, and rebuild the boardwalk and make some new memories. There are new generations who will have a new boardwalk to record the memories. While it will never be the same, we owe it to our descendants to love the boardwalk for its beauty and glory.