5 Things I Learned During a Disaster

Man, oh man, are we living through some stuff right now or what? I'm feeling okay about things. I'm concerned. I'm confused by the way some people are behaving but a lot of this feels very familiar. I know what it's like to live under curfew, have movement restrictions enforced and to find scarcity at the store. Katrina (the hurricane) taught me more about life than I ever realized and I will ALWAYS be grateful. For many years I thought of it only it terms of the devastation and loss it brought to my life. But with every passing year I realize those winds carried so much more.

1. Scientists, Meteorologists, Doctors - ALL the smart people - they disagree about all the important stuff. They do. That's why every major case trial has dueling "expert" witnesses. There are always a minimum of 2 camps and both if you are open minded can make compelling arguments. Use reason, use your own God-given judgment and be prepared to live with the consequences, even if they are dire.You are the only one who can choose for your family. Personally I always err on the side of caution. Otherwise, I'm like my neighbors who said they'd rode out plenty of hurricanes. Later they were punching a hole in their roof, swimming to a tree and hanging on for 20 hrs. waiting to be rescued.
   

2. Government is worthless in a crisis. I wish it weren't true but it is and if this is your first crisis you're learning the hard way. Organizing government movements is like turning the Titanic - it doesn't happen on a dime. It's not like a movie. It takes days and weeks to mobilize people, equipment, supplies, develop protocols, make changes as it develops and most of the responsibility is at the state level.
   

3. Supplies are limited. In this country we think we can go to the store and get what we want. We are accustomed to the readily available supplies down the street. In a crisis, supply chains are disrupted. Now, unlike 2005 we live in a huge global economy. And the globe is having a pandemic. When goods don't arrive on boats, goods can't get to trucks, or warehouses, or back on trucks to get to your store. It will take time. All that cheap stuff from China is or will be on slow boats. We lived with these empty shelves and limited goods for weeks and months, disruption is real.
   

4. The Federal Government is able to issue Emergency Declarations and can release resources and cash but the Federal Government is not going to be the first ones on the ground in the early weeks of an emergency. The disaster in New Orleans lays at the feet of her Mayor and Governor who believed one camp over another about the ability of those levees to hold. They did not heed warnings, did not have a sufficient emergency plan in place. They sat there waiting to blame someone else instead of working the problem. That's the truth. I don't care how we think it "should" work. This is how it actually works.
   

5. The media is not a pillar of democracy anymore. It's not a central player in the checks and balances that hold the government accountable to the people. It's not. It's big business. It's International conglomerates fueled by a 24/7 news cycle and scrambling for your attention, so they make money. Period. I watched during Katrina shocking displays of deception. Filming something and calling it something else. Running into an area, grabbing some footage and listening to some hearsay or rumors and reporting it as fact. And I saw staging. blatant, crafted staging of scenes. And the government was complicit. They weren't reporting news they were making a movie, based loosely on a true story. They aren't evil, they also aren't sacrosanct.

But, there was good news and it made up for ALL that nonsense...

Neighbors shine. While the government is arguing about protocols and jockeying for responsibility or trying to dodge it - neighbors just shine and help. Our Churches shined. Good people make all the difference. They show up. They give and help. Love wins.

We wouldn't have eaten a morsel in those first 6 weeks without the kindness of strangers who donated food across the country, loaded semis and sent them to Churches locally which managed in 2-3 days to organize the most efficient food distribution in their parking lot I have ever seen. Which was FREE! Orderly, no fights, no hoarding. And when you drove through you could stop at the end and they prayed over you and your family. It was beautiful. I'm crying thinking of it again this morning.

The last shall be first. My faith is in God. Not that He will spare my suffering. Why should I be spared as others perish? No. My faith is in God eternally. This is not my home. Should a hurricane, a plague or any ordinary thing take me on any given day, I will go home with my Father in Heaven. I will do all I can and then lay my head down and rest in that truth.

All those months on the coast of Biloxi, MS taught me: use reason in discerning experts, err on the side of caution, depend on my husband and myself to care for our loved ones, view the media for what it is and take it into account when they report. Rely on my neighbors, take care of my neighbors and hold fast and first to my faith in God.