I have friends back East–in New York, Connecticut, and Boston–who spent this week braving and then attempting to recover from Hurricane Sandy. Electricity is shot, roads are blocked and flooded, family is separated. Some are safe and warm, others are making their way inland to relatives for respite and a bit of heat. One lost a mother-in-law in Russia during the maelstrom. The whole thing has seemed a bit apocalyptic.
We live in a very different world than we used to. Aside from disaster seeming to strike on a weekly basis, we have media that strikes on a daily basis and makes sure we're up to date on it all. That's great. I'm so pleased to know that my friends and theirs are doing fine, all things considered (thank you 4g!)
But…
It all makes me feel a bit helpless too. I know generally what's going on, but I can't do anything about it. I can't drive a tanker into the Burroughs of New York to give people the gasoline they are lining up for. Can't take them food or water or firewood. I can't even send them a box of cookies–unless I walk it in.
Bleah.
It makes me wish for these days:
(Photo courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org)
Yep, the days when men were men, women were women, and young, skinny, wiry orphan boys with no fear of death could brave the wilds and ferociouses, and get the mail to where it needed to go. If I'd had a skater-dude and a pony I could have sent care packages to all of my friends in the Sandy-fied areas.
Well, in the meantime I can donate to those who can get through. I can go to the church buildings where hygiene and survival kits are being put together for disaster stricken regions and lend a hand there. It's bound to do some good.
But I do wish I had my own pony. I could totally have done it back in the day, been an Express Rider. I've had the sorta-skinny-sorta-wiry-sorta-willing-to-risk-death-daily-thing going on in my life. I mean, I gave birth four times without an epidural. I think that would have qualified me. Especially if I happened to be in the midst of PMS or a rush of pre-menopause at the time. (Don't even think about messing wit me, stupid water buffalo!) I could totally have gone.
I'm thinking though that in this day and age, an exhausted, stressed-out, saddle-sore woman arriving on Long Island six months from now might be a bit on the useless side. So perhaps its best that the experts handle it. What I will do is send out prayers, check my Facebook newsfeed for updates, and find ways to help with the efforts already underway for those affected by the storm. And bite my fingernails just a bit.
It's a brave new pony-free 4g world, my friends. And we get to roll with it.
My sister lives in Philly and one of the most stressful parts of the whole ordeal was the waiting waiting waiting. All that prep and anxiety and then you sit. And wait. She got tons of rain, we got tons of wind. The pics out of NYC and Jersey remind me of when we had our apocalyptic floods in 2008. All that water.
We’re sending out prayers, too.