Usually we in Israel are the ones who cause worries for our friends and family around the world.
But this time we’re sitting in our warm homes, the sun is shining outside and we have running fresh, clean water and electricity. And we’re worried sick about our friends and family in the USA. since hurricane Sandy smashed her way into their lives just a week ago.
image courtesy of creative commons.
It’s been a sobering lesson to all of us.
No matter where you think you are on the social/financial scale, when the forces of nature hit, the damage is indiscriminate, flattening the homes of the rich and poor, CEOs and street cleaners, the religiously devout and atheists.
You can prepare just so much, but then you have to sit and wait it out or flee and leave your home to the ravages of the hurricane.
You’re forced to realize what Is important in life – and what can be replaced or rebuilt.
When I heard about people who refused to evacuate their coastal homes or even went to them specifically before the hurricane arrived, maybe believing they could keep the waves away with their forceful presence, I began to think again about Jews who refused to leave Nazi Germany because they just didn’t believe anything would happen to them.
In one day the liveliest city in the world was reduced to a flooded, sightless wreck, a black soaking shell.
A week later life is starting to return to normal. But as these acts of nature become more and more frequent people are beginning to realize just how vulnerable we all are and how little we can really control in our own lives.
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