As many people are aware, Hurricane Irene struck the eastern seaboard of the United States affecting approximately 65 million people. This hurricane was a category 1 and as it moved up towards New England it was downgraded to a tropical storm. This was big news all over the world...we got phone calls from Egypt and other parts of the US making sure that we were okay. Thank God we were. The overnight of the storm was a bit scary as I did hear trees fall. After the storm I saw that half of one tree was down and ontop of it another one. We were the lucky ones...no flooding in my house, but others down the street did, we still had power, just nerves shaken. The story was different from house to house, street to street, town to town, etc. The local news did an excellent job of covering each part of the tri state area, because while people were back into their routines in Manhattan on Monday morning, others were still reeling from the damage. The apparent overhype or whatever you wanna call it from the storm was necessary because people for the most part, heeded the warning and another Katrina aftermath was avoided.
There is a human side to every disaster. After each disaster, we find ourselves coming together as a community. I decided to head out yesterday to survey the damage in the area. I ended up in a Panera Bread while waiting for my car to be serviced. It was packed with people charging their laptops, cellphones, iPads, iPhones, iPods, etc. They have free wi fi and it was turned off because many people who came to eat couldnt find a place to sit due to those who came to Panera Bread just to surf the net. I spoke with some people who told me that their entire town had no power. I also noticed, people were kinder to each other...taking turns using power outlets, etc...I heard a lot of people speak about their experiences to complete strangers. This would not happen on an ordinary day. I headed to a supermarket where the cashier was asking each customer if they were okay. Yesterday I couldn't count how many people asked me if I was okay....I didn't know anyone....this reminded me of other disasters like the blackout, the earthquake of last week, 9/11, blizzard... we all stepped out of our zones of just focusing on self and focused on others. In a busy NY Metro area, we are always rushing to get to the next place, we don't stop...literally we don't. If we do, it's an inconvenience and often we miss out on finding out someone else's story. I got to survey damage of down trees and power lines in front of homes literally on the block behind me. People were just very nice and jokingly told me they would charge me $2 to take a picture. What I took away from this, is that we shouldn't wait for a disaster for us to stop and ask about each other. I met so many resilient people yesterday that had more taken away from them, but they were willing to ask me if I was okay. I was touched...
For those who watched this hurricane from a distance and mocked the media attention...there are places that look like a war zone, people still without basic needs, houses damaged by water, power out, highway collapse and towns that are rivers. Support us with your prayers instead of mocking that this storm was 'nothing'. It was something for many people, life changing event. It was also a missed opportunity for some to reach out to the other. Honestly, I felt the love by so many people who texted, called, sent me twitter/fb messages asking if I was okay...and I was one of the lucky ones... Let's not wait for something horrible to happen to keep in touch but rather let's take away that we all need to pause so that we can see the world through not just our own eyes, but through others.
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