Blue Notes from a Red Zone

Other People's Storms

The last few days have been very pleasant. Hurricane Rita spun out a few calling cards, and they were welcome indeed. The stifling heat of a Florida summer was broken by brisk breezes and cloud cover. The recent drought gave way to small, contained summer storms. A few weeks ago, Hurricane Katrina tossed over similar greetings: enough wind to convey a frisson of anticipation, a bit of rain to keep the plants healthy, some dramatic waves. The waters poured over our main highway, our sorely battered shore line gave way to a storm surge yet again; but in the main, Katrina as experienced in the Florida Panhandle, provided an unexpected break from daily chores and stress.

For us, this has been a year of other people’s storms (with the exception of Hurricane Dennis, which was a pretty profound exception). Were it possible to turn a blind eye to the death and destruction just out of view, we could easily consider hurricanes and other tropical storms to be a pleasant diversion from routine.

Other people’s storms are the metaphor for our time. Most of us in the middle class are just a few latitudinal degrees away from disaster, but as long as the storms (whether they are related to health, economics, or meteorology) keep just to the east or west of us, we can feel insulated and protected. We don’t have to worry about the consequences of our actions, or see the bleakness of despair in the eyes of our neighbors. We can heave a sigh of relief: thank God our child didn’t get cancer, or our job didn’t get out-sourced overseas; or our house didn’t turn out to have been built in a flood plain after all. We take stock of our personal lives, find we’re okay, perhaps send a few dollars to the Red Cross, and move on.

We need to realize that other people’s storms are, indeed, our storms as well. We pledge allegiance to the concept of one nation, “with justice for all,” but social justice is a hollow term today. Economic inequality is staggering enough to be a threat to the nation. While the top half of one percent rakes in obscene wealth, 34% of the population experiences poverty for at least two months every two years. As we move to a service economy, few corporations offer living wages. Our educational system slides ever more quickly into inadequacy. We continue to stand aside and let our environment be plundered and pillaged for the good of the few, and the nightmare of the many.

We cannot take too much solace in our isolation from this year’s storms. Storms of all kinds are brewing, and all of us are in harm’s way. To paraphrase John Donne: Do not ask for whom the storm comes. It comes for thee.”

posted by Lenore Wilson @ 8:25 PM