It’s sunny with some clouds, cool after a streak of hot, hot days, and it turns out I took the rest of last week off from blogging after all.
It was a good decision.
Before we venture where we’re going, thanks, Deb, for the coffee, it was a pick-me-up I most certainly, certainly needed. Things have been a little harried at my end, and probably will continue to be for a while, so a sweet surprise like that really made my day.
And on to more serious things.
The flooding in Texas is horrible, I will start with that. And that girls’ camp, well, we can all agree it’s tragic. I say “all” because I suspect that some of the people affected wouldn’t have cared much about it if it wasn’t them, but we’ll get to that in a moment.
Our end? We are the people with empathy, whether we like it or not. It’s how we’re wired. Because as much as we talk about leopards and faces, we still never joke about leopards and children.
But that’s what happened at that camp.
All of the choices the people in that county made about their political priorities at all levels–local, state, federal–and what they thought was worth the spending resulted in likely preventable deaths.
I’m not crowing here. Those were people, those were children, and the children had zero say in the choices of their parents.
But the work of services like early warning systems is largely invisible, and the point is to not need it. The point of evaluating the safety and risk of all places, including and particularly the ones where children have very little supervision compared to at home, is action before something happens.
Having a plan.
And plans can be expensive.
Now people in that area understand the costs.
It’s interesting, though, how my empathy runs out when I reach the point where it becomes obvious they were OK with it as long as it was someone else.
And there we are with that “all” at the top.
The reality is that this horrible tragedy is what they voted for. Instead of paying for plans, instead of paying for warnings, they took their money, bet it all on red and lost everything.
This is not the end of it, either, because federal cuts will expose the gaps where local governments haven’t covered risks. This will get worse, not better, and particularly in rural areas in all aspects of basic life, not only in disaster management.
The federal government is no longer a benevolent parent cushioning the blows of existence. It’s an aloof, distant cousin waiting for you to leave so it can pawn your stereo system.
And not just the people they hate.
I’m sure it still won’t change their votes though, even now, living with the consequences.
Anyway, that’s it for me, have a great Monday and a great start to your week.
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