Blessings. Curses. Anarchy.
As with any disaster of this scale, I think we all find ourselves looking at our own lives. I live on an island, less than three miles from the shore. If a hurricane or tsunami ever hit Long Island, I'd be gone. Even with warning, getting to the various bridges and tunnels would be a nightmare. Traffic is bad NOW when people aren't fleeing in terror. What would I save? At lunch this week one of my friends pointed out how hard it must be to lose everything you've ever amassed. In the face of certain death, things would have to be left behind in the name of survival. Material possessions are just that, but there's an emotional attachment to photo albums and collectible items, to gifts with sentimental value. There are things I'll have to part with someday as just a matter of moving on, but it's not something I look forward to or like to think about. I can't imagine losing it all at once. If my home was to be submerged tomorrow, the priorities would be my parents, our cats, and basic food and clothing. Maybe I'd save my computer, since it's small enough to carry and has irreplaceable words and pictures. Would I save any of my comics, DVDs, or video games? Some of my possessions are nearly as old as I am. I wonder how many people, faced with the same decision, are now trapped or worse because of it? I'm not by any means speculating that as the sole reason people stayed behind. I'm just wondering if everyone who COULD get out, DID get out. In other words, I'm wondering what I would have done. Faced with leaving the things that represent my life behind, would I make the right choice? Would a disaster be a blessing in disguise that lifted the curse of my hoarding? I can't imagine what I'd do. I can't imagine what it's like. Suddenly, a lot of people are left with nothing and while the storm is over, everything has changed. It's a serious test of the endurance of the human spirit.
Take a moment to look around at the things in your room. What's important? What isn't? What if tomorrow, it was all under water? My thoughts and prayers go out to the people who've learned the answers to those questions.
posted by MCF at 11:58 PM
3 Comments:
Last year right around this time I was starting my new job teaching and I wondered how I was going to approach talking about the tsunami. It, along with other natural disasters, had affected a few students in our school. Some people only have to have these discussions once in a lifetime. Now it's only a year later and I feel like it's happening all over again.
My prayers are with them too. I'm impressed with the magnitude of what's been accomplished so far.
Others keep focusing on so much bad, and I'm just in awe that nearly 200,000 people from New Orleans alone have been rescued and moved.
God help them all. The suffering has been immense and the destruction cannot be fathomed.
good blessings. Once, not because of a disaster, I left all my things behind except my children and anything I could send across the country for $200. It took a while for it to sink in that I couldn't just reach for something I had owned and loved for years, but it was a twinge, not a heartache, and for the life of me, I couldn't get angry about it. I had what was precious, and the rest was only "stuff". That sounds breezy I know, but earlier in my life I'd had to learn "It's only money...." and it was a small step . And at the time, I still had faith. When I said "Thank God." I could still feel the connection.
Having said that, I know it pales beside what people have been suffering at so many levels in the south. And to me, that's the unimaginable part---it's about your belongings and your mother and your house, and hunger and money and water and shelter and someone pushing a mic in your face and sharing facilities with thousands of people and the loss of privacy, communication and dignity. A multiple whammy that many people are facing with such patience and grace.
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