Many of you know that in addition to my regular job I’m a reservist with FEMA and can be deployed on short notice to disasters anywhere in the country. It should not come as a surprise to learn that I’m assisting in the recovery effort after “Super Storm Sandy”. It was (and is) a natural disaster that effected many people and wiped out more than a few. Since I’m working in the heart of the damaged area of New York I’ve been able to observe how people react in the heart of democratic liberalism, it is a people watchers holy grail with lots of stories. As I drive down the road leading to my work I can easily identify flooded houses by the height of the mud line on the walls of the buildings and also identify the social philosophy of the residents by the status of the contents of the house that are thrown into a ragged pile in front of the house.
Without knowing the people who are living in the house I do know that if I don’t see anything in front of the house and the sidewalk is swept that the resident is probably physically fit and takes pride in the house. The drowned contents of the house have been disposed of and the family is busy rebuilding their lives. But if the contents of the damaged house are piled on the street without any attempt to remove them I know that the residents believe that the function of society is to clean up after them and to take care of their needs as soon as they are expressed. I see lots of those houses here in New York.
There is a subset of these houses where the ruined artifacts of personal life have been bagged and while the pile is untidy it is at least contained and not blowing across the roadway in the wind. In my experience the residents of this house are older and have enough life experience to try to present a clean face to the public while they wait for the community to pick up their trash. I know my observations are generalities, but they are often affirmed when I meet with clients on a face to face basis.
The tidy homeowners show me pictures of their house and the neatness of their sidewalk is repeated by the efficiency of interior demolition and repair. They are most often over age fifty but a percentage of them are in their early twenties. As they talk with me I hear terms such as “I can do it myself” and “I’m better off than so many others” and I know that these are self-reliant people who will endure what nature and government has done to them and that they will prevail. They represent the past and, hopefully, our future.
I find it sad however; those when they want to express an opinion that might be negative or political they generally look around, lean forward and softly express themselves as if afraid to be overheard by those who might not agree with them. They have learned by experience that those who disagree with them do not hesitate to express their disagreement ferociously.
In contrast to those who help themselves I talked recently with a person of the male gender who demanded that I tell him why the local government was not informing him personally of local air quality. After all, he is a tax payer and he has children and he needs to know because of the children. When I pointed him towards local health and environmental agencies he scoffed and told me that air quality should be a federal concern and why didn’t FEMA keep him informed! I have to admit that I was irritated by his obnoxious attitude, supercilious behavior and total unconcern with anything other than his issue. So when I asked him about the air quality in the house he wanted to store his kids I was heatedly informed that it was the government’s job to clean and repair his house and why weren’t we doing our job. I could only imagine the condition of his house is in when it is about six weeks after being flooded and without any effort being made to man up and do the job men are supposed to do without expecting others to do it for them.
This particular “gentleman” was not the least bit hesitant in expressing his thoughts and opinions about everything except his own responsibilities. A year from, when the reality of this administration’s economic, social and political decisions are apparent I wonder what he will have to say then.
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