A Change In The Weather

The most recent of my experiences has changed the way I see the world. These devastating storms that hammered us for a few weeks in 2004 made me consider what is truly important in my life.

It should come as no surprise. My family matters most. Unequivocally, I could not have made it through the past couple of months without my kids. Then again, they were the only reason I wanted to make it through the past couple of months, anyway. It is funny how that works out.

I would like the list some of the things I learned:

1. Somehow, my daughters know how to play all sorts of card games that I have never heard of. After the past couple of months, I now know how to play some of them as well. Despite how large a pain in the butt it may have seemed taking them to this and that Girl Scout thing over the years, they learned a lot of useful things from being involved with others and that organization. Not only did they learn invaluable socialization skills, but they also learned a few card games. Enduring the recent power outages in the wake of violent storms would be much less bearable without those candlelight card games.

2. For the sake of one's nerves, if not safety, please, always evacuate when the authorities tell you to. Despite curiosity, lunacy or whatever, experiencing a category three hurricane at landfall is something best left to those silly enough to do it in front of a TV news camera. At least they are getting paid to be incredibly stupid.

3. Freedoms can be taken away in an instant, by fate and/or natural circumstance. Suspended liberty can also linger as an emergency situation for several days afterwards, in the interest of the public good. At my age, having anyone tell me when I HAVE to do anything is at the least irritating. I am not certain that I like the fact that the elected officials in my county can impose an arbitrary curfew, but I do like the fact that the police charged to enforce the times of suspended freedoms seem very interested in relinquishing the power as soon as the emergency has passed. Maybe that is how our country really is different from some other places in the world. The police officers are us and the authority is used only when it is necessary for them to protect us from ourselves. They watch out for whatever there is in human nature that makes people act like idiots.

4. The power of nature trumps everything. No one is impervious. I think storms are a little, not-so-friendly reminder that everyone is equal. There is no immunity. You are not bullet-proof. A storm does not give preference or deference to wealth, creed or ethnicity. It doesn't care whether you eat white bread or whole wheat. It doesn't want to know whether your belly button is an 'innie' or an 'outtie'. Your Atkin's diet doesn't matter. How great you were playing baseball in high school is immaterial. Nature doesn't mind removing a few shingles from your roof either, if that is what it takes to get your attention. The wrath of the elements will humble you into admitting that every person is a puny subject cowering in a corner, hunkering down and hoping for the best until the unleashed fury has passed.

5. Appreciation for electricity, more than almost anything else in life except for my kids, was underscored and highlighted. Having hot water to take a shower because there is electricity is a marvelous thing. It's funny though, I realize now why they call electricity 'power'. Having the 'power' is much preferable to having 'no power'.  However, it is always nice when someone that has 'power' offers to share some of it with you, especially when you don't have any. By the way, Air-conditioning is the greatest invention ever! Trust me on that one.

6. The strangest and most personally uplifting thing I have witnessed over the past couple of months is that emergencies, like this series of storms that my state has suffered, brings out the best in some if not most people. I don't know if it is an American thing or just a human thing - or even if any of that matters. I am relatively certain that it is part of the overall equalizing factor of an event or series of events of the magnitude of a disaster Floridians have sustained. When we are reminded how insignificant each of us is before the awesome display of the forces of nature, we tend to have a sense of community and become nicer to one another. When was the last time you volunteered to help a neighbor trim some palm fronds? - Or remove a tree that had fallen in his or her yard? When was the last time you stopped to ask your neighbor if he or she wanted a ride to get a few bags of ice? It has happened here lately and almost everyday!

These disastrous, violent storms, I would not wish on anyone. It is not that I feel blessed or even particularly singled out to have survived. All the same, I am grateful to be alive. It is only that I noticed a few things that reaffirmed my faith that somehow we will all get through even the hardest of times. It is not because we can or must, but because we are all together in this strange and sometimes twisted little world. Sometimes, it takes a disaster to get our attention and remind us that this is our unique sandbox. This is the only place we have to play. We need to behave ourselves and share, regardless how immature we are. What a pity it is that it takes disasters to bring the 'human' out of our common 'humanity'. The shame is that most of us aren't a little more human to one another all the time. We wait until there is a tragedy become who we really are, members of the same tribe.