I am participating in 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes 2018 (all of my submissions can be found here).
Today’s prompt is: WHEN
I am astounded at the selflessness of the people who have descended on Tallahassee and the hard-struck areas west of us (especially Marianna, Blountstown, Bay County and Mexico Beach) to lend a hand following Hurricane Michael.
In addition to the people from out of town, there are in-town people who have gone without sleep, food, showers and time with their families to start to get things back to normal (or some semblance of normal).
Living here, you always know that hurricane damage is a matter of “when” and not “if.” However, you never feel totally prepared (we didn’t anyway).
I was reading an article that gave some background on why Hurricane Michael grew so rapidly (compared to other storms). The article talked about Hurricane Kate (1985), which I was also here for.
So much has changed since then (yet so much has remained the same). Because of social media, we are better able to prepare (theoretically — once Michael had passed, much of our Verizon services (and that of other carriers) was out). Because of lessons learned from Katrina and other disasters, emergency management is handled differently and lessons are applied.
Even with all the progress, at the core of hurricane responsiveness is human beings willing to get out of bed, to risk their personal safety, to take charge of well-meaning but possibly misdirected volunteers.
My friend Ben posted this about Blountstown, a wonderful small North Florida town that was extensively damaged:
Our town has been knocked down, but we will rise as a stronger town.
Blountstown, FL
Ben is right. I am in awe right now of how many people have risen to the challenge after disaster struck.
Ed. Note: Prayers (of course) and good wishes are appreciated for all of these affected areas. If you want to make a donation, two good charities are Episcopal Relief and Development and Florida Urgent Rescue (FUR), which has been helping dogs from rural areas affected by Michael. Other options are listed here.
Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.
Glad you and yours weathered the storm. I think we all live with ‘whens’, be it health issues or natural disasters yet none of us can be totally prepared but do what we can.
Isn’t that the truth? Thanks for stopping in.
It’s such important work. Another one that is a good organization and has a good reputation is Lutheran Disaster Response. It might be in your other link but I didn’t check. Praying you are doing well after the storm.
No, it isn’t (I don’t think) but I agree with you – it’s a great choice too.
Thank you for this Paula and for your giving heart
It is quite an unusual time in our region, isn’t it. Thanks for commenting!