Our city recently hosted some evacuees from New Orleans after the hurricane, and in one newspaper article, some of the evacuees complained about the food and the refuge amenities. Shortly thereafter, locals wrote letters to the editor slamming the evacuees as ungrateful.
How dare they?
Ummmm, we lost power on Sunday for 16 hours after hurricane force winds beat the hell out of our city, and I nearly lost my goddamn mind! And I was in my own house, with my family, with my clothes and furniture. We just didn't have electricity. And it was cool enough to open the windows. And it never rained.
At around 6:00 am today, our electricity came back on. At around 5:00 am, I was awake worrying about how we would function without electricity today. The kids can't drink milk. We have no tv. No hot water for baths. We have no tv. Can't wash towels or underwear. Good God, we have no tv!!!!!!!!
I cannot imagine how horrible I would feel being far, far away from my home, living out of a gym or convention center, sharing a bathroom with hundreds of other people. Yes, I would get hot meals. Yes, I would take a hot shower. Yes, I would be with my family and be safe. And I would be grateful for those things, but I would also be fricking MISERABLE and wanting to complain all day long if someone would let me.
And what about people who have lived in refugee camps for YEARS!!!!! They have nothing but the clothes on their backs. They don't have homes or toys or furniture to which to return.
I, like most Americans or anyone who is used to living in what amounts to embarrassing luxury, cannot handle even the slightest inconvenience, which is what 16 hours without electricity amounts to. I've heard plenty of people on radio shows and newscasts lamenting our sad situation.
It makes me feel ashamed of wanting things like new flooring or a new, non-lumpy mattress or all those absolutely unncessary things that I want. It makes me wonder how I would cope if I lost everything but the clothes on my back and my family. It makes me understand how other countries think Americans are a bunch of whiners....because even the poorest among us are rich compared to so many people in other countries.
4 comments:
What a fabulous post! And I would be whining with 3 hours of no electricity...I bow to you making it 16 hours.
Carrie! I've been wondering how you were doing.
Our part of Ohio got slammed! We haven't had power at our house since 1 p.m. on Sunday and it might be out all week. Fortunately my in-laws have power so we're camping out with them for the time being. Which, truth be told, is difficult enough. Not because we don't get along, but it is difficult, especially with little kids, to be away from all their stuff! We toughed it out in our house for 30 hours or so before moving in here.
Great post! We are still without power. I keep trying to remind myself and the girls that this is just a minor inconvenience.
Our neighbors got power yesterday and ran an extension cord to our house today.
What did we power up? You guessed it-the computer. Leave it to my husband to have his priorities straight.
Susan
Great post Carrie:)
I would've read this sooner but we didn't get power back til Thursday Night.
I actually had mixed feelings about the power coming back on, there really was something so calming about it,no distractions. I also felt like Bill and I got a chance to talk more than usual, and the kids never missed a beat. Did not complain about PB and honey sandwiches for lunch every day or cereal with powdered milk for dinner, they actually got a big kick out of eating by candlelight every night. They never even mentioned tv or the lack of it. I was amazed and so grateful. Don't get me wrong, it IS nice to have it back on bc it was inconvenient, but it really did put things into perspective for me. We can all certainly get along with a lot less than we think we can, and really we never lost what was most important to us.
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