rain

so here we are in houston visiting my parents and doing some local mission work, and what should blow in? tropical storm eduoard. it's dark and rainy, but so far, just that- rain. remember in the good ol' days when it would rain and the news wouldn't spend all day talking about it working people into a frenzy? i went to gas up yesterday, because i needed to, and sat in line for 15 minutes! then had to change gas stations because they had sold out of gas! crazy times. not to be too harsh, i remember trying to evacuate during rita, it was scary and hot and like the bowels of humanity had been ripped open and exposed to the elements. i have never met such fear and what comes out of that. the people on the road were hostile, angry and only fighting for themselves. after going 5 miles in TWO HOURS we turned around to sit it out. then went out the next day and gave rides, food and water to those stranded on the road. we were fortunate, i realize this. other towns lost everything. but this storm wasn't even supposed to reach hurricane strength. it's not that i don't understand the worry, but the hysteria, where people are running over others in search of a bottle of water, that's tougher for me to understand. it points to a society of people that are insecure on multiple levels. here's what i think. if we were more confident in ourselves and our ability to be resourceful in times of crisis, we would be a different society of people. but as we are right now, soft and comfy, unable to handle power outages, we essentially have no coping skills. it is my fear that if true crisis were to hit, we wouldn't know what to do. this is why i feel it is so important to live a local lifestyle. plugging into people around us, that we can depend on to pick up where we leave off. we need to know how to grow our own food- whether it be one tomato plant or a yard full of veg and eggs. we need to know how to sew by hand, cook over a fire, make bread from scratch, find edible greens in the wilderness, etc. i feel like if we don't start now, our children will be left floundering. it is time that we take responsibility for ourselves and the community around us. education, outreach, community.

so those are my oh-so serious thoughts on this dreary day.