Ballardblog.com

Like a lot of Americans I just wasn’t getting the message.   I listened in horror on the I-90 bridge on my way to work to the events happening in New York on 9/11.   I watched footage of Katrina and the effects on New Orleans.  I talked to coworkers during the storms of 2006 who had lost power and were without heat and lights and were happy to be in the office.  However, I still did nothing, nothing to prepare myself in case a disaster, whether man-made or natural, happened in my neighborhood.

I don’t have any excuse for this lack of planning or preparedness, particularly in light of the fact that I am a person who plans for everything else in my life.   I plan my calendar, my errands and even my laundry.    It’s frustrating to watch news coverage showing people sick from lack of water or food because they don’t have emergency supplies, but I looked around my own basement while doing laundry the other night and realized I don’t have the things I need to get myself through a disaster.   I know that there are a few items I should buy and put down there: some gallons of water, some non perishable food items, an extra flashlight, etc.  However, even those items would hardly help me survive a prolonged or severe situation.   

So what is stopping me?  I guess from a psychological viewpoint many of us don’t prepare at all because we don’t want to even think about ourselves or our community dealing with such a terrible situation.    Maybe we are a little superstitious too.   If we don’t plan for a disaster, then we won’t invite it to happen.   It’s the equivalent of children pulling the blanket over their heads to hide from monsters.  

I cannot pinpoint exactly what has changed.  Have I matured?   Has the rate of disasters seemed to have speeded up?   Is it my belief in global warming and involvement in groups that are predicting dire circumstances for our future?   Or is it just simply that someone had the brilliant idea to create a class making it too easy and convenient for people like me to not do something?

We Ballardites are fortunate to be given the opportunity to educate ourselves on how to prepare to take care of ourselves and our neighbors in the event of an emergency. 

Ballard Library SNAP community organizing meeting:

6:30 – 8pm Sept. 11th

For more information on Seattle Neighborhood Preparedness:  http://http://www.seattle.gov/emergency/programs/snap/