what was lost... and what was gained

It’s a wonder that law students ever survived before the advent of wireless internet. As I got out my laptop in preparation for another long and dolorous class of (sorry, but the class must go without being named for purposes of protecting the identities of myself and classmates, but we'll just call it "Law and Basket Weaving"), I looked around the room and saw all of my classmates doing the same.
True, on the first day of class, all the professors admonish us to never use the internet during class. “It’s distracting to others!”, they told us. Others said “It’s disrespectful!” We all knew what they really meant, though. They wanted to be the center of attention. They didn’t want modern technological advances to detract from our full and complete focus on them... and their jokes.
As 1Ls, we delighted in setting up chat rooms and writing emails during class. We secretly snickered at jokes that we passed over instant messenger, trying not to laugh out loud and draw attention to ourselves. So, you can only imagine our horror when one by one we booted up our laptops on that fateful day of "Law and Basket weaving" and nobody’s wireless internet functioned properly. I subtly scanned the room around me to see if everyone else was experiencing the same horror that I was: no internet.
I saw the looks on their faces. Mouths gaped open, hands cradled crestfallen drooping heads, classmates gave each other looks of encouragement and silent winks. We’ll get through this. We’ve just got to. Hang in there! The looks communicated. The girl sitting next to me gave me a prolonged gaze, maintaining eye contact with me, bit her bottom lip, winked at me and nodded. It’s OK, she nodded. Stunned, I nodded back at her. I reached into my purse and pulled out a bottle of aspirin. I handed her one and took one for myself. Our friendship was sealed.
After that day, I heard the stories of other friendships and romances that began during that class.
Never forget, just like that fateful day in "Law and Basket weaving", the most heartbreaking tragedies are known to bring people together.