Edwynn
Posts: 4105
Joined: 10/26/2008 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: stellauk I just find it telling that people are bickering over how people are responding to the circumstances they find themselves in. Seven years ago almost to the day I started a period of street homelessness in Warsaw with knee deep snow and temperatures as low as minus 25 degrees. I didn't have a dollar to my name. I spent four weeks in that situation before I managed to leave to return to the UK. The fact that seven years later today I'm posting this is down to a combination of my own survival instincts, kindness from strangers and a bit of luck. Does it really matter how people are responding, as long as they are and they can both survive and recover from the situation? I hear you. The more I learn about other countries, the more I learn that along with having their own particular sense of humour, every region or society seems to have their own sense of 'drama.' When hurricane Hugo struck, that particular hurricane was significant in that it was still at near full force more than 250 miles inland, so not a merely coastal region event, as usually should be the case. Thirty- to one hundred and thirty-year old oak trees littered the street (Charlotte, NC, USA), everywhere. Likewise were 400-800 lb. transformers on the streets, five or six every block. No one could drive to get to the main roads for a week, if that lucky. I remember looking at the devestation and being amazed that there was only one death resulting from it, but people in the neighborhood were saying; "oh, this is so terrible, this is so terrible!" But no one was actually suffering, and nobody (but one, killed instantly, no suffering) died. I was amazed at the miracle, and all (seemingly) everybody else could do was whine and complain. I don't even remember what I did to get through it because it was of such little consequence less than a year later, even gone by three months after the fact, certainly not worthy of memory retention now. All my nieces remember about it is me posing them aside or on top of these huge transformers and traffic lights that littered the streets and parking lots, to shoot some pictures. Keep in mind that US news, whatever supposed political 'slant,' is all about the 'drama!,' so of course they are going to send their ferrets to sniff out the most self-perceived 'disaffected.' Yes, a storm that stretched for over 1,000 miles, and the reporters found all the people that, on just the day after, were saying, "Why aren't they here yet? Where are they? They told us they were coming!", etc. I know that looks pathetic, and it actually is, but all news 'reporting' is heavily edited, starting with the choice of what and whom to report and quote. A $2.00 to $15 book on edible weeds is more valuable than a $1,750/troy ounce of gold at times like these. But don't tell anybody that. I actually do go with the Darwinistic mantra, when it really matters.
< Message edited by Edwynn -- 11/3/2012 1:02:02 PM >
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