My First Natural Disaster

You haven’t lived until you have seen the destruction of a hurricane firsthand. The sheer power and destruction is humbling. Despite all of our advancements in technology and the ability to pick apart the earth piece by piece through the use of natural resources, land erosion, and animal extinction, the Earth can still smack us across the face and we can do nothing about it. Keep in mind this is coming from a guy who was pretty comfortable throughout the whole ordeal.

My work allowed me to evacuate Thursday since I was in a mandatory evacuation zone and with little traffic in the way we made it to my sister’s home about an hour inland. Early Saturday the storm hit and the power went out around 3am but was back on around 10am. When we finally drove back to our apartment on Monday there was no real damage and our power was on.

But the destruction in-between was intimidating. Power-line posts completely snapped in half like a twig, billboards bent in half, boats washed up on the road, trees twice my age completely ripped out of the ground, street light poles turned entirely around, about 25% of the roof of Reliant Stadium torn off, and we even got a glimpse of the 45-story JP Morgan Chase Building that had almost every window shattered on one side of the building.

As Heidi and I were driving around watching the truck drivers, firefighters, police officers, landscapers, general contractors, woodcutters, garbage truck drivers, ambulance drivers, nursing home workers among many others. (It’s ironic considering how many of these workers are illegal immigrants) The professional athletes and celebrities that so willfully and gleefully leach off of society making millions of dollars a year were entirely useless when a time of need arrived. Rather it was the “Regular Joes” that are making a difference. We thought of John Lennon’s song, “Working Class Hero,” they were the people making a difference.

As soon as you’re born they make you feel small,
By giving you no time instead of it all,
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all,
A working class hero is something to be.

Finally, let’s talk FEMA. A lot of people are once again frustrated with that organization, as they don’t seem to be moving fast enough. But considering the budget they work with let’s give them a little credit. Below is a budget list of some government entities in descending order:

Department of Health and Human Services: 573.5 billion mandatory, 67.2 discretionary
Department of Defense: 439.3 billion ($1,450 per citizen)
Department of Labor: 59.7 billion
Department of Homeland Security: 44.9 billion
-FEMA’s cut: 8.02 billion
Department of Justice: 43.5 billion
Department of Education: 13.4 billion mandatory, 56.0 discretionary

As you can see we spend an incredible amount of money figuring out how to effectively kill people or invade foreign lands but relatively little to take care of our own people, whether they are victims of natural disasters or our children. What kills me is when people gripe and complain about FEMA but do not vote at all or if they do they vote for politicians who do not support the expansion of social service programs such as FEMA or education and if anyone ever suggests raising their taxes they scream and kick like children having tantrums.

I grew up in a place where very few voters support the expansion of social service programs and they would never vote for a social conscientious politician yet they greedily take advantage of Medicaid when a child is on the way. I have known families that have intentionally had several children and every single one of them was paid for by the US Government. Guess what, Medicaid and Medicare are socialized medicine! When the aid they receive is not enough they complain, just like those frustrated with FEMA but again, come November they would not be caught dead supporting politicians that would like to expand these programs. Oooh…this is so very frustrating to a social worker like myself!

But for now, well settle for the “Working Class Hero,” thankfully there are plenty of them around. As for my heroic sister Katrine, her husband John and their family for taking us in, two songs come to mind:

The window burns to light the way back home
A light that warms no matter where they've gone.
They're off to find the hero of the day
-Metallica

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He’s ordinary

Kudos my hero leaving all the best
You know my hero, the one that’s on
-Foo Fighters

Peace to all, and God bless.