Last dance.

This decade has started out pretty much as expected for most people, except for the people of Haiti. Unless you have lived in a cave or have been away from all media for an extended period of time, you are most likely aware of the devastation that has turned this island into a poster child for mass mourning.

Of course there have been other disasters around the globe this year including airplane crashes, flooding, and bitterly cold weather, but nothing compares to what I saw on Friday night. You know something is a huge deal when all of the broadcast networks broadcast the same show at the same time. For some, the last time they may have seen a similar occurrence was when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated---I was 5 years old and I remember I wanted to watch cartoons. The difference? The networks were broadcasting identical coverage in 1963---all day---for several days. They could not allow for that to happen in however in 2010 because they would lose too much advertising revenue.

What I think is very important about the event on Friday night was how people worked together to help a country that was in dire need of food, water and medical supplies. I am not sure of the annual GNP of Haiti, but I would suspect the dollars flowing in at this time, and hopefully being distributed to those who are truly in need, are near or in excess of what would normally be generated for the entire year on the island. The difference is, the cost to clean up, re-build, and take care of the population on the island will likely far exceed the amount of money coming in. Haiti is going to take a long time to recover unless something miraculous happens to get it back on its feet; it has to act fast as they depend heavily on tourism for a majority of their income.

A few years back, the skies near our home darkened and in a matter of seconds all of the homes did as well; the power was lost for 4 days after a tornado moved down a street directly to the north of us. In a moment it took with it all of the power lines that provided electricity to our “grid.” It was like, as I am told, the tornado followed the road and cleared everything in its path. (And this was considered a small tornado.) For us, it was an inconvenience; we lost a tree and other replaceable items, but it was the miracle that happened, that proved to be the difference of what might have occurred during a violent storm. My daughter was sitting in the family room watching TV and instead of a 60+ year old tree falling against the house and shattering windows wear she sat, it miraculously fell across our neighbor’s fence and deck. Although the previous weekend he had painted his deck, he was more than happy to replace it in comparison with what might have happened.

In the U.S. we are actually fortunate the infrastructure is as good as it is---sure cities along the west coast are more prone for earthquakes, and those along the shores are more likely to have hurricane’s and floods---but fortunately (and this can be very frustrating and devastating for those who are affected by them) our government has the means to get the process moving. Although slow at times, it still has the process in place---just ask the people of Haiti what the difference is.

The photo above was taken about 18 months ago when a 100-year storm hit our area for the 4th time in 5 years; the good news, based upon simple mathematics, we should not expect one like this for 500 more years. Our basement became a sewer, and the items that were not recovered in time became floating reminders of how much water can accumulate in a short period of time. We have re-built the basement, and we should be much better prepared based upon all the structural work---but it’s like when you think you are ready for the big dance, and you put on your pink dancing shoes (I have no idea where these came from) and you get the flu. Thankfully for most of us we recover---hopefully the same will be said for those devastated by natural disasters.

Thanks for stopping by.