Preparing for Disaster--Personal and Otherwise
Hi ho, MMMLOGerinos!
PREPARING FOR DISASTER--PERSONAL AND OTHERWISE
I'm as optimistic, perhaps more so, as the next person. I suffer what may be considered a stunning defeat and eventually come back hard--after a good deal of swearing and "why-meing". Yet, deep within lies an urgency, a compulsion to hedge my bets on a universally bright tomorrow.
Perhaps this started when I was a small child in the northwestern Arizona desert town where some startlingly "independent and interesting" folks resided until corralled at 24th and Van Buren in Phoenix, the state hospital. One such fellow drove a late 1940s vintage white cockroach-shaped car painted with warnings of a dire nature. He called himself, his car, the Human Radio. It seemed that every time we went downtown, his rolling billboard was parked at the library, the post office, next to us! Scared me spitless as I knew and felt his abject fear of the terrible world in which we lived. I couldn't resolve the feelings or the fear, just as he apparently couldn't, though he tried mightily via his painted messages on his car and driving around town.
I mentioned the Human Radio to my mother some weeks ago and her response was, "There were many crazy old guys like that after the war." Oh my. Perhaps they weren't the only ones reacting to fearful times. Remember the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis? My mother once asked us kids which we'd like to have, a swimming pool or a cabin in the mountains. We voted for the pool and Mom bought the cabin in the mountains. What I really wanted was a fallout shelter! I realize now that I was again intuiting, feeling, the generalize fear of a nation and personalizing it.
The government, FEMA and other agencies have been warning us for a very long time to prepare for whatever disruption in services. Here in the Seattle area, it's earthquake and possible tsunami. We're advised to have supplies, food and water enough for the family for 72 hours in case water, power and other services are disrupted. I wonder how many actually prepare? After much experience, many people in the hurricane regions seem to have it down. They usually evacuate when advised to and maintain a disaster prep kit. Others don't want to leave, or get stuck on the roads, become caught in the disaster and dependant upon emergency services, which can't possibly help everyone. People suffer. We rally to help them and our desire to help with prayer, money, disaster relief volunteerism proves our best hour, collectively and personally.
To my thinking, we can all do more to help our people, our nation, ourselves in such events. We can plan ahead, ask ourselves--what would I do if there were no one to rescue me? Where would I go if I had to leave my home? What would I do if my cell phone didn't work and my car was stuck on the freeway in a twenty mile backup? If I had to stay put in a disaster, do I have enough food, medicine and emergency supplies for my family, my pets? We can lessen the strain on our emergency response systems by taking it upon ourselves to plan and prepare for whatever possible disaster that might befall us in our region of the country or when we travel.
Preparation isn't a negative reaction to fear. It's a proactive response born in striving for independence and not expecting the government agencies to take care of us. I don't know about you, but I don't want to find myself with no place to go and with twenty-five thousands other disaster victims in a sports stadium without a roof in stifling heat and overflowing toilets, lining up for hours to get my MRE for the day. However, if despite my planning and preparation, I should end up in such a situation, I know I'll be glad for the help of the American people. Though I do know that I'm much more comfortable giving aid and will do everything I can to keep myself able render aid rather than be a recipient of it.
I know, these are bold words for a one-eyed fat man . . . but that's the way I feel today as I send prayers and all the material help I can to the hurricane victims. I can't donate blood to the Red Cross. They won't take it because I lived in England with the other mad cows and Englishmen who go out in the noonday sun and eat beef.
Ciao, ciao, MMMMMMMMMMMMMMelinda
PREPARING FOR DISASTER--PERSONAL AND OTHERWISE
I'm as optimistic, perhaps more so, as the next person. I suffer what may be considered a stunning defeat and eventually come back hard--after a good deal of swearing and "why-meing". Yet, deep within lies an urgency, a compulsion to hedge my bets on a universally bright tomorrow.
Perhaps this started when I was a small child in the northwestern Arizona desert town where some startlingly "independent and interesting" folks resided until corralled at 24th and Van Buren in Phoenix, the state hospital. One such fellow drove a late 1940s vintage white cockroach-shaped car painted with warnings of a dire nature. He called himself, his car, the Human Radio. It seemed that every time we went downtown, his rolling billboard was parked at the library, the post office, next to us! Scared me spitless as I knew and felt his abject fear of the terrible world in which we lived. I couldn't resolve the feelings or the fear, just as he apparently couldn't, though he tried mightily via his painted messages on his car and driving around town.
I mentioned the Human Radio to my mother some weeks ago and her response was, "There were many crazy old guys like that after the war." Oh my. Perhaps they weren't the only ones reacting to fearful times. Remember the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis? My mother once asked us kids which we'd like to have, a swimming pool or a cabin in the mountains. We voted for the pool and Mom bought the cabin in the mountains. What I really wanted was a fallout shelter! I realize now that I was again intuiting, feeling, the generalize fear of a nation and personalizing it.
The government, FEMA and other agencies have been warning us for a very long time to prepare for whatever disruption in services. Here in the Seattle area, it's earthquake and possible tsunami. We're advised to have supplies, food and water enough for the family for 72 hours in case water, power and other services are disrupted. I wonder how many actually prepare? After much experience, many people in the hurricane regions seem to have it down. They usually evacuate when advised to and maintain a disaster prep kit. Others don't want to leave, or get stuck on the roads, become caught in the disaster and dependant upon emergency services, which can't possibly help everyone. People suffer. We rally to help them and our desire to help with prayer, money, disaster relief volunteerism proves our best hour, collectively and personally.
To my thinking, we can all do more to help our people, our nation, ourselves in such events. We can plan ahead, ask ourselves--what would I do if there were no one to rescue me? Where would I go if I had to leave my home? What would I do if my cell phone didn't work and my car was stuck on the freeway in a twenty mile backup? If I had to stay put in a disaster, do I have enough food, medicine and emergency supplies for my family, my pets? We can lessen the strain on our emergency response systems by taking it upon ourselves to plan and prepare for whatever possible disaster that might befall us in our region of the country or when we travel.
Preparation isn't a negative reaction to fear. It's a proactive response born in striving for independence and not expecting the government agencies to take care of us. I don't know about you, but I don't want to find myself with no place to go and with twenty-five thousands other disaster victims in a sports stadium without a roof in stifling heat and overflowing toilets, lining up for hours to get my MRE for the day. However, if despite my planning and preparation, I should end up in such a situation, I know I'll be glad for the help of the American people. Though I do know that I'm much more comfortable giving aid and will do everything I can to keep myself able render aid rather than be a recipient of it.
I know, these are bold words for a one-eyed fat man . . . but that's the way I feel today as I send prayers and all the material help I can to the hurricane victims. I can't donate blood to the Red Cross. They won't take it because I lived in England with the other mad cows and Englishmen who go out in the noonday sun and eat beef.
Ciao, ciao, MMMMMMMMMMMMMMelinda
posted by MMMelinda at 7:45 AM
