After the storm passes

So the coming week will begin to assess the damages to Galveston and Houston, and I certainly hope that the loss in life will stay in the lower range.

I don't tend to like to deal in hypotheticals very much; that whole "If I were a different person with a totally different personality under circumstances completely different than my own, I would have done THIS!" is such a futile exercise. The simple truth is that none of us really know for sure what we would do in a given situation until it actually happens to us. "All the best laid plans of mice and men" and all ...no matter how strong the planning is, it seldom works out just as we envisioned it.

I'm speaking of course, about those folks who didn't heed the mandatory evacuation order in Southeast Texas for Ike. The folks made a bad choice, and believe it or not; they ARE living with the consequences of their actions! As of this morning, the death toll is only 4, but I'm willing to bet it will climb a lot higher in the next week. I'm not completely sure about this, but I don't think you can pay a much higher price than that.

I've watched the video of some of the people that stuck it out and had to be rescued; I've even sat back and murmured "what a fucking moron" under my breath while listening to a few of them. Everyone has their reasons, and looking at it in the rearview mirror is always the best time to determine whether they were shitty ones or not; exactly when you can't do a fucking thing about it! Does this mean they deserve what they got?

Of course not; nobody deserves that kind of thing, no matter HOW foolish! If everyone got what they deserved, it sure might be a more interesting world. YIKES!

I wonder if the people who ignored the evacuation order for Gustav interviewed the next day would say they regretted not leaving "just in case?" I wonder how many of the people who stayed were just tapped out after they DID heed the evacuation order for Gustav and simply couldn't afford it a second time? How many of them were just fucking idiots? ...well in the rearview, it's kinda easy to say ALL of them! The fact is though, we don't know their situations; none of the recriminations I'm hearing from officials and the media will change that either. I'm sure quite a few of them have nothing better than "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time," but I bet there are plenty who just felt helpless and without choice too. I bet we won't see very many interviews with the people who would still say "I just couldn't do it" even after the fact.

And for good reason.

I'm not so naive I don't fully understand the really strong tone being taken; this kind of behavior doesn't need to be encouraged by our officials. I'm sad to say that I bet it IS being encouraged in a much more insidious way that is probably impossible to combat. Every time that bet pans out, and it turns out to NOT be the big deal it was played up to be ...those people are the heroes (especially in their own minds), and we all know how everyone loves a winner. He's not a frickin' idiot for not leaving "just in case" when it turns out to be nothing. How many greeted their returning neighbors after Gustav calling them a "bunch of pussies" and were greeted by some who may have felt a bit sheepish for hauling ass when it turned out to be nothing. If you are poor as dirt, and couldn't afford that involuntary "vacation" in the first place, how much MORE bitter would that sting be?

I just think about myself a handful of days ago with the top half of my engine torn off and waiting for parts to come in. The second evacuation order in a month goes out, and I'm on a fixed income (we'll need to ignore the fact that some of my credit card limits are higher than most of the people who stayed probably make in a year, and that I have family who would come get me on a moments notice); I've spent all of my disposable money for the month on parts, and the free bus ride out to a shelter won't allow me to take my muttifer along.

Presto ...I may well have just become one of those "idiots" myself!

...it really isn't hard for me to understand some situations, and I hope people can try to avoid using such a broad brush when labeling those unfortunates who lost that particular dice-roll. I know a woman who ran upstairs into her burning house to try to save her little dog; she was overcome by the smoke and rescued by firefighters with over 60% of her body burned (and the dog didn't make it). I asked her about that much later on, and she admitted that although it probably wasn't the wisest decision she had ever made ...in the same circumstances and without foresight, she'd probably still do the same thing again. I'd be willing to bet there will be a few of those even after Ike, although I doubt we hear much from them (like I said before, I don't completely see that as a bad thing when viewing the larger picture).

So I'm a bit annoyed with the really harsh tone being taken towards the people who stayed. I'm not so annoyed as to think that they shouldn't be taking the harsh tone; I just find it distasteful is all. I'm much more annoyed at the purely hateful tones I hear out of some people who have never lived in a place that is prone to natural disaster. I just think that people need to find compassion, and understand that life is seldom as black and white as we often wish it were. "If they choose to live on the coast, they should be ready to evacuate" sounds all good and fine when you aren't the person living there, or have the income to do it. For all we know, maybe the last 5 generations of their family have lived there, and picking up and leaving just isn't a consideration for them. Perhaps they are living paycheck to paycheck, and just can't afford to move. The fact is, we just don't know anything about them, other than they made a choice that was, in retrospect, EXTREMELY unwise.

We all gamble with our lives each day every time we walk across the street or get into a car. We all do stupid shit, and at some time or another, we all pay for it in one way or another.

I just ask we all bear that in mind before throwing too many stones.