A day to Remember and Prepare
Today is the anniversary of one of the greatest disaaters in the history of the United States. Thousands of innocent people lost their lives and thousands more were thrust into a nightmare they will never fully awake from.Today is 9-11-2009. Eight years have passed and many of the monsters who caused all this hurt are still plotting to disrupt our lives and thrust fear upon us again.
I remember that day. I remember watching as the first plane hit the tower, and then the second. By that time I knew our country was at war. When the plane hit the pentagon and another was taken down by heroes so no more would die, I knew a part of me had died. I sat and watched the news crying with my high school aged son and praying for my son who was thousands of miles away living in a country just recovering from a devastating war.
I grew up with grandparents who were emigrants and told of the horrors of the first World War. I remember clearly the story of my mom when she was just in kindergarten being afraid to go home because she had been attacked by a dog who had ruined her birthday present, a new dress. It was the depression and she knew purchasing the dress had been a real sacrifice. I heard the stories of the victory garden they planted during World War II and the horrors my dad saw on Utah beach. I watch him suffer the rest of his life due to the wounds he received in Germany. I heard the stories of my Great grandmother who refused to stop shopping at stores owned by Jews and the fear my grandmother had that the next letter she received from Germany would tell her my grandmother was in a concentration camp.
We have had a pretty easy ride the last 50 years. Vietnam was awful but most of us never had to make much of a sacrifice during that time. There have been economic downturns before but people were better prepared to handle them because they were living a more self reliant life style do to the experience of a generation who had lived through very hard times.
We are no longer prepared to care for our own needs. Many do not know basic life sustaining skills such as gardening, sewing and repairing what you already own. Cooking from scratch? What is that? A budget? I’ll just charge it. We had become a very spoiled generation. Compare the response to the disaster on 9/11 to the reaction after Katrina. After 9/11 communities came together. People collected money, clothing, even gloves for the rescue workers at ground O and the only call was to get the________ who did this.
Katrina was another story in some, but not all locations. Some screamed they did not get help fast enough but first responders were busy trying to save people trapped in flooded buildings. Many did not pull together but rather stole from their neighbors in shelter or looted former neighbors homes. I remember the couple imn New Orleans. The husband was walking through the water pulling his wife who was sitting on a door. The only other itme on the door was a case of beer, and they were complaining the government was not doing enough. I knew this was the time for me to begin educating others in a more serious manner about the benefits and importance of creating a culture of self reliance in our homes. During that time it became evident that something had to change if we were to thrive again as a nation and as families.
Just a two years after Karina there was a devastating wild fire in southern California. Having family and friends in the area who were evacuated, and some who lost homes, I was able to witness that disaster close up. They returned to the 9/11 mind set. They pulled together. They did not lay blame. They expressed gratitude for those who helped in any small way to ease their burdens.What made the difference?
I believe it was the willingness to understand that we are not owed anything in this life. Every day, every bottle of water from a stranger is a gift. Great sacrifices were made to help the victims of the disasters, all three, but those who helped after 9/11 and the San Diego fires kept helping, even a third and fourth time, as new needs were discovered. Why? Because those who were being helped understood the sacrifice of those helping and did not feel entitled to it but rather grateful for it.
And now, who is the happier? Those who rolled up their sleeves, took responsibility for their situation, even though it was not do to any fault of their own, and worked to move forward. Some in San Diego are still living in hotels, trailers, or bunking with extended family but they do not complain. These are the type of people who have made America strong. These are those who know the value of a self reliant life style and many are preparing in more serious ways then before their disasters as they understand power comes from being in control of your own life. We lose our freedom to choose when we allow others to decide for us, when we feel we are entitled.
I know people who feel entitled. They are not happy. Nothing is ever meaningful because they have not had to work to create it. We have created some of these 20 and 30 somethings as parents. If we have people like this in our lives it is time to help them understand that true joy comes as we accomplish things we thought we couldn’t. Joy comes when we are faced with a crisis and look to ourselves to solve it. When you can repair a car, remake a hand me down dress into a prom show stopper, or are able to take a meal to a sick friend even though we have just lost our job, that is real joy.
Let this be the year we express the feeling of accomplishment we feel when we learn or teach a new skill or open the door to a cupboard and realize we have a General Store in our own home. Let us resolve to make this the year we set an example for those around us and together become more self reliant.
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Amen. There is absolutely nothing to be added to that post. 100% correct. Thank you for standing up and speaking the truth!
We went through the beginning of Katrina when it came ashore in Florida. Did not know how bad it got before hitting LA as we were still without power. Then Wilma came … I was appalled when we did the drive through for ice & water, the number of people who were scooping everything up for free that they could. The National Guard guys trying to be polite and patient but nobody would give them so much as a thank you or have a nice day. When I went back the 2nd time, I took a box of snackpack cookies with me to give to the NG guys. This was part of my hurricane supply but they were out there providing for US and I felt that the least I could do was share something I had that might be an unexpected treat. You know what, I really think I made a few of their days with those chocolate chip cookies. And it didn’t hurt my family or me one bit.
I was so impressed with the way you laid out the reality of how necessary it is to be prepared. I, along with my 4 children and husband, survived an ice storm. We had a power outage for 12 days at my home. Some people were without power for 22 days. It puts a totally different light on “If ye are prepared Ye shall not fear!” We have always tried to keep our food and water storage up and rotated, and are huge fans of gardening and canning. thank goodness for that. During the ice storm several hundred people went into a shear panic. Several families who lived on dead end roads were unable to get out for anything. We are blessed to have a wood burning stove as a heat source and as a cooking unit. For the 12 days with no power we fed over 36 families daily. There were stock pots of something on our stove at all times. All these people kept coming and some of them I had never seen before. But a hungry soul is a welcome soul. So we opened a “Soup Living Room” to any who needed it. Through our food storage we never ran low. We had some rough events that I won’t go in to, but there were things taken from our home, yard and even chicken coop, but when the storm was over, we were blessed with new friends, an abundance of canned food left at our doorstep, and a new awareness of how important it is to be ready: spiritually, emotionally, physically, as well as prepared with storage of water, food, and a good amount of lighting, heat, and a way to prepare food. Comfort food should also be made a part of our mix for the expected ice storm this coming February. I hope I am ready!!