Saturday, January 16, 2010

Hell breaks loose in Haiti

This weeks big news was the earthquake in Haiti. Mass devastation rocked the little island nation as a 7.0 earthquake struck the people who live there. The pictures and news reports coming out of the region show a nation devastated and thrown into utter chaos. Body's are being burned in the streets and used as barricades to block traffic. Gangs armed with machetes are fighting in the streets over food supplies. Nobody seems to be in charge and if not for the international community sweeping in to the rescue,the situation would be spiraling completely out of control.

Naturally the left and right have foot in mouth symptoms. Danny Glover on the left comes out with "the earthquake was due to the failure of the Copenhagen summit" as Pat Robertson states "It was caused due to God being angry at their devil worshiping ways ". Personally , I think at times the tectonic plates shift in violent manners and result in disastrous consequences. The bigger question , or issue , is what would happen if it happened on a massive world wide scale. What if the New Madrid fault line running up the Mississippi basin were to shift again. The last time it went, it rang the church bells on the east coast. Now we have millions more people that could be affected if it were to shift. Geologists say it is due to shift again soon , some predicted back in the 80's that it could move in the 90's and so it is possible that it already over due. Some scientists are also predicting another shift in the earths magnetic field. This type of event would affect the whole earth with earthquakes and massive volcanic events. There is several other scenarios that could affect planetary well being ranging from other natural disasters like something striking the planet to man made events like nuclear war. The point at the heart of the issue is the fragile nature of civilised society.

As has been seen in Haiti , New Orleans and the Philippines in recent years when disasters strike we find out how vulnerable we are to natures wraith. So what happens if the whole world finds it's self in the grips of a global crisis. It is naive to think that the chaos we see in Haiti cannot happen here in the U.S.A. or in any other country. People in desperate situations often resort to desperate measures. The more people are prepared for disasters, the less chaos has a chance of seizing control of the situation. The problem is most people are woefully unprepared for crisis situations. When I was younger my grandfather , who was a farmer, made an observation. He told me a tale of his brother , who while visiting his son in Chicago one winter woke up to a massive snow storm that paralyzed the city. His son's family was worried because they didn't have much food in the house to make it threw the storm. His brother seeing a set of snow shoes hanging on the wall for decoration , strapped them on , hiked to an open store and returned with supplies. My grandfather observed , in the city's , security was an open store down the block to shop in. On the farm that he worked , security was a well stocked pantry that held the supplies that you needed. In these days , most people are not thinking of the future survival needs that could be needed to maintain life. They take the power grid and clean water supplies for granted. They assume the trucks will keep restocking the stores every day, week, month and that nothing will happen to disrupt the supply chain. The event's in Haiti should remind us otherwise!

Society is a fragile system built on mutual cooperation that has a history of upheaval. The planet is littered with the remains of the advanced cultures of their times. The Olmec and Aztec ruins of the Americas, the Egyptian wonders of the world, the ancient temples in South East Asia , the remains of the great Roman Empire who's decline was both caused from within and from outside political forces all should serve as reminders that civilizations rise and fall like tides crashing on the sands of time. The hardships and chaos of disasters can be minimised greatly by proper planning. Granted , sometimes the best laid plans can be cast to the wayside due to unforeseen circumstances but to not prepare at all is just plain foolish. We live in a societal structure that encourages a disposable society. That is part of the reason our landfills push ever outward with refuse discarded sometimes not because it doesn't work , but because the new version is the latest rage and must have item. Ironically, as society advances , the more vulnerable it can become. In the last great depression millions starved and we were much more of an agrarian society back then. What could happen now that most of the population dwell in cities is scary. As we have become dependant on electrical grids and gas powered machines to do our work and support our lives we don't think of what we will need to do if they suddenly disappear. I'm aware of these things and try to prepare for life without the modern conveniences but every time the power goes down I am personally reminded of just how much more I need to prepare and how at risk my family is for troubled times. A freezer full of food does you a limited amount of good if you have no power to keep it running!

In an age where externalizing personal problems and passing the buck is wide spread we need to look inside and ask, what can I do to protect my family and help my neighbor in times of trouble. We need to spend less on wars that project our power and more on upgrading our own infrastructure to insure it can survive and be repaired in the event of a Haiti type event. We need to understand that personal responsibility starts with ourselves but also needs to extend to those who cannot do for themselves. I applaud the worlds efforts to ease the suffering that is going on in Haiti. There is times that humanity shows the best and worst sides of our nature simultaneously and this is one of those events. It is times like these we can see the human race is a rainbow of colors that all bleed the same red. To often we see groups get caught up in petty race and ideological quandary's that put us against each other. We need to rise above those emotions but at the same time realize that not everybody thinks in that manner.

If more people will prepare for disasters, the amount of suffering will greatly be reduced because there will be more resources to contribute to the effort. As always ... Plan for the worst and hope for the best. The events in Haiti this past week show why that axiom rings true.

Until next time
Lasco X

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