Lessons Learned

I've been on deployment with FEMA to the New York area helping people impacted by Super Storm Sandy. The last time I spent more than a day or two in New York was when I was growing up here...and I left the city behind me back in the 50's when I graduated from high school.

Old New York is not the same as when I was growing up and to my jaded eyes all the changes that have occurred are not all for the good. What was once a crowded and congested city is now a grossly crowded and congested assembly of people who seem to have lost all social skills. Manhattan used to be a walkers paradise and people on the street had a an almost ballerina skill in walking crowded streets without colliding. Today when I try to walk the streets it's almost impossible to avoid being run down by pedestrians who bull down the street, focused on their latest electronic toy and seeing neither people, cars or walk lights in their hurry to get elsewhere. The shear number of people concentrated in a small area has destroyed the concept of  "personal space" and the traditional in your face attitude is reflected by personal space becoming a contact sport.

Once out of the city and in my car I get a daily lesson in attitude from my fellow drivers. Speed limits and traffic control devices are there for tourists and I'm sure the horn industry sells lots of replacement horns every day. There are signs on all the highways that tell drivers it's a state law that turn signals must be used when changing lanes. HAH! they only use of turn signal I see is when traffic is jammed up (a common occurrence) and the guy next to you wants to get in the space your car is occupying...and he will do that come what may. About 20 percent of the drivers I see insist on driving with their high beams on and there is nothing that can persuade them to do otherwise. I guess they feel that if they don't blind you, you won't see them trying to occupy your space.

I made a decision many years ago that "elsewhere" was better than New York City and I'm glad I did. I got a wonderful lady, great family and an interesting career after I moved away. I've never looked back, but I also have to say that the xenophobic people who inhabit the region are also up front, outspoken and assertively some of the nicest people you can meet. Once they say hello to your good morning welcome they prove to be social and (almost) polite.

In my dealings with those who were impacted by the storm I've seen a resiliency and a willingness to work towards regaining their fractured lives that I find impressive. I'm still glad I live where I do, but I am impressed by the applicants I work with.

I have to disagree

I occasionally publish my thoughts and could be considered a blogger. That's a term with about as much credence as "assault rifle" and "dumb blond" but I enjoy speaking my mind and letting the few readers I have know what I'm thinking. As most bloggers do I also read the product of other bloggers both to get ideas and to tune my own writing skills in comparison with people whose writing ability I admire and hope to emulate.

I ran across a post from a blogger who believes that governmental disaster response is both too expensive and muddleheaded. Writing about "Sandy" the recent east coast disaster he made it clear that if you build on a barrier island you deserve having your house washed away. If you decided not to have flood insurance he sees no benefit in the government helping you recover from the result of your stupid decision. In short he thinks that money spent on disaster recovery is a bad social investment, with no good return on investment in his eyes. Interestingly enough I can see the merit (but not the logic) of his commentary.

I am a reservist with FEMA (as are the majority of FEMA people, which means we have a life outside the periodic call to help others) and at the moment I'm stationed on one of those east coast barrier islands that was devastated by the storm. I'm seeing first hand the impact poor decisions made years ago can have on people. And often those decisions were made by other people who didn't have a clue that what they decided would hurt future generations.

I see people who have lived in their seaside cottage for over half a century. A cottage that was built long before there was an understanding of the dynamics of barrier beaches and long before the concept of building codes. Logically society should not have built infrastructure on barrier islands but reality is that society established itself on the island and we have to live with the consequences of decisions made by those long dead people so many years ago.

The older couple I mentioned just a moment ago probably bought their seaside cottage in the 1950's or 60's and after decades of occupancy they finally paid the mortgage off. What they failed to realize is that the mortgage company, when they finalized the mortgage also terminated the National Flood Insurance coverage the couple had paid for over the years. And as often happens the elderly pair didn't realize they had no insurance or made the (bad) decision that the premiums were higher than they could afford.

What do I, as a representative of a government that prides itself on caring tell these octogenarians when they approach me for help. Their cottage has been knocked off its foundations and the contents of their home (and the visible memories of their lives) have been washed into the ocean or are ruined by mold. I have to tell them that when their insurance lapsed they forfeited their best opportunity to recover their declining years and that the most their government can do for them is fund them to a ceiling of $31,900 which barely gives them opportunity to turn their back on their lives and their history and find a safer place to live.

So while I agree with my fellow blogger that we should not reward bad decisions I have to ask if individuals should today bear the burden of past generations making those poor decisions. There is a need for society to make some serious changes and we need to discuss what they should be and what the implications of those decisions will be.

I look forward to that conversation.

The Blame Game

Every morning I try to watch at least a few minutes of news while I'm getting dressed for work, it puts me in a cynical mood but I try to ignore that to I can deal with clients in a more positive frame of mind. The past weeks the talking heads that read the news de jour have been over extending themselves in spreading the word that the evil and/or sick people who have cause undue pain and suffering are the result of other peoples actions. So if out of the thousands of people who have seen a violent movie there is one sick individual who acts out his emotional fantasy and rage it's all the fault of the entertainment industry.

I grew up in the 40's and watched my kids growing up in the 60's and 70's and there was always some depiction of violence and bad behavior on the silver screen or the TV. While we have always had asocial people who are willing to do bad things there was no casting of blame when those people did wrong. Society dealt with the problem and the perpetrator and depended on the parents of the millions of kids growing up to teach them social morality and proper behavior. It was not then, and it should not be now a reason to blame others for the failure of an infinitesimal few to abide to the social norms that define us as a society.

While we are right to blame the individual and right to determine suitable punishment for their transgressions we should look to the parents who failed in their job of guiding the growing child down the proper path rather than blaming the media and the entertainment industry. I don't like the extravagant violence that is glorified today but it still remains the jo of the parent to see that their child knows right from wrong, understands the social contract and is willing to take responsibility for their actions.

2012 was not a good year

The year of our Lord 2012 had moments of joy and moments of despair. Blogging was fun and often an intellectual challenge but the worst part of the year was having to talk about pets and family who have gone before us. The Bible tells us that they are preparing the way for us when our turn comes to join them and while I have no idea of the truth behind that statement but it does give solace to a grieving soul and eases the sorrow that comes when we lose a beloved family member.

Le Conteur lost her stepfather at age 102 this month and we had the misfortune to lose 2 cats and 2 dogs within a short period. What made it especially hard is that 4 of those 5 deaths occurred in a 6 week period and that's an emotional overload I wouldn't wish on any one.

2013 has got to be better.

New Year's will be bittersweet for us. Separated by disaster deployment Le Conteur and I will share the celebration over the phone, talk sadly about our losses, view the political future with alarm but cherish the memories of family that have gone before us. The new year always offers hope and we will accept that hope as an opportunity.

Christmas as a continuing philosophy

Being on deployment with FEMA brings with it long work days, no days off, motel rooms and on the fly dining. My secret for keeping my sanity while dealing with the stresses of being away from home for extended periods and not eating a good diet is to organize my life as much as possible and to keep to a schedule, bearing in mind that I’ll take advantage of any free time that presents.

Christmas day was one of our non-working days so I had free time, I decided to start the day by catching up with laundry chores and briefcase consolidation…just the thing to do on a holiday. So at 5 AM I took a load of laundry and went down to the hotel facility before there was a rush on the limited number of washers and driers. As I passed through the lobby I saw a young couple sleeping on one of the couches (and the floor). Apparently the innkeeper had allowed them to crash for the night and they both looked like they needed the comfort of a warm and protected place to lay their heads. In addition when they arose a short while later I saw that the young lady was pregnant and obviously due within a matter of days.

I’m not sure if the innkeeper was aware of the symbolism of giving cover to a weary family on a day we celebrate when another innkeeper two thousand years ago allowed a travel worn couple to occupy his available space. But she followed a long religious tradition and gave shelter to a couple in need.

Here was proof that kindness is eternal and an affirmation that the story of Christmas is one that can always be repeated.

The difficult question

Every time a deranged individual shoots up the enemies of his imagination there is great hue and cry that guns are the problem and that guns must be banned. Of course there is always the counter argument that guns are necessary for defense against those who would do an otherwise defenseless group great and grievous harm.

Both arguments miss the point that in all recent cases of mass murder that the actor was an asocial, reclusive individual who was considered by his peers to be “strange” and who culminated his moment of fame by killing himself. The media should be ashamed of itself for the depth and scope of attention it pays to evil entities. Their moment of glory style of reporting encourages other sad souls to emulate the event so that they too can be known and feared. The media feasts on such events and seems to knowingly encourage alienated individuals to do the same since the media lives and dies on such events.

                

Nobody seems to be willing to point out that the root cause of horrific crimes by troubled individuals is that we have too few treatment centers for those who should be in treatment. Forty years ago a loose consortium of mental health practitioners and lawyers persuaded state legislators that it is wrong to institutionalize those who have difficulties coping with society. They proposed that mental hospitals be closed so that the inmates could be placed back in society so they could learn how to cope. This argument neatly sidesteps the issue that it was the individual’s inability to cope that is the cause of their problem.

Politicians loved the argument for closing mental health facilities since it empowered them to close expensive programs and threw the cost back on local communities who, in turn, were unable or unwilling to fund local outpatient treatment centers that are necessary if we no longer have mental health hospitals available. The end result is that we as a society have alienated people wandering the streets, sleeping on grates and doing embarrassing things in public. The police have become the de facto care givers for the mentally handicapped and in the county I live in the Sheriff estimates that more than a third of his jail population should be in active and controlled treatment regimes that he is unable to provide.

                                

Let me be clear on one point. There is no way we can identify the small number of potential violent individuals from the mass of people who have friends and neighbors that call them “strange”. As a society we need to recognize that society is a collection of opinions and personalities that together make the whole and that as individuals we must honor the truth that other opinions are as valid as our own. The problem occurs when we fail to recognize that the other opinion might also be injurious to society as a whole. Identification and treatment of potential offenders is a slippery slope and the libertarian in me sees great danger in identifying “potential” asocial behavior. That is a giant first step to totalitarian authority and I want no part of that. I’m trying to decide in my own mind how we as a society can deal with this problem and the only thing I know is that any decision has got to be made by the social group and not by politicians and vested interested parties.

Life in the trenches

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.