The rising floodwaters of the Southern Tier have crippled our region, momentarily paralyzed the way we live our lives and have forced upwards of 20,000 Broome County citizens to evacuate.

But despite all that has happened, it seems that the flood has, at least in part, awoken a sense of spirit and unity that has long since been dormant on our campus. Students have rushed to the aid of those in need and have put to rest fears that our often apathetic student body could not bring itself to act.

Responses from both Binghamton University students and the University itself have been resounding. In conjunction with the American Red Cross, BU opened up the Events Center and West Gym to be used as makeshift shelters. The combined maximum capacity of the two buildings, 1,600 persons, was reached at 4:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

Support for evacuees has been supplemented by student volunteers, students who, instead of using their day off to play drinking games and sneak off into the Nature Preserve for nefarious purposes, have come to the bedside of the distressed citizens of Broome County.

Whether simply distributing food or providing medical attention — as many seniors and graduate students from the Decker School of Nursing were — everyone’s contributions were vital in the relief efforts.

Now, we realize a great number of students have gone on with their lives as usual, or have let the flood test their creative craft by canoeing across Binghamton’s Southside or by throwing Noah’s Ark-themed parties. While these reactions are certainly unconventional, we have no qualms with the initiative these students have taken. A day off’s a day off, and this is certainly one for the memory banks.

But we’d like to again applaud those who took a more active approach in ameliorating the lingering damage of the flood.

Impressively, aside from a minor brush in Hinman College, BU campus has been virtually unaffected by the flood. Even for the extremely vigilant student, it would’ve been hard to gauge the damage and wreckage the overflowing rivers were causing to the Southern Tier. For most students on campus, a look out your window would’ve given you the impression that nothing more than a typical late summer Binghamton rain had swept through the area.

What makes the student body’s reaction so impressive is that our collective civic duty awoke despite a detachment from the damage. It would be painstakingly easy for any college student to remain dormant during a crisis that doesn’t directly hurt them. But students have come out in such droves that the Events Center and West Gym shelters have been forced to turn student volunteers away.

The manner in which campus reacted to Thursday’s events reminds us, on a much smaller scale, of the way our country united after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, whose 10th anniversary we commemorate this weekend.

While difficult to focus on anything other than the events in the area, it’s still important to remember the tragic events of Sept. 11. The flood could do for the spirit of Binghamton University what the Sept. 11 terror attacks did for the spirit of the United States. For an all too brief period of time, the atrocities of that day rallied an entire nation together. If an entire nation could pick itself back up after one of the worst atrocities in its 200-plus years of existence, let’s challenge ourselves to do the same.

And instead of letting our ambition fizzle once the immediate effects of the flood diminish, let’s see how long we can sustain our newfound sense of spirit and purpose. When the floodwaters subside and life returns to normal, keep apathy at bay and don’t lose your sense of community.