Superstorm

I was watching Anderson Cooper earlier this week talking about how inappropriate he felt it was for celebrities to be throwing extravagant Halloween parties in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.  "Don't they know that the entire East Coast is without electricity?", he said...as if to say: How dare they celebrate while we are sitting here in the dark!  I am sure LOTS of people could identify with this feeling of "How can the world keep on spinning?".... and "Don't they know we are suffering?".

I couldn't help but think of the millions of people worldwide who live without electricity every single day and those who suffered MUCH MUCH greater things than a loss of power in the aftermath of Sandy.  I was feeling a little incensed myself watching a segment on the Today show (or the like) about how to entertain your family while the power is down -  examples included: play boardgames, make conversation about important issues - like the environment.  Barf.  Do people really need a superstorm to figure out how to talk to each other?  And, in my estimation - not being able to plug in your ipad is far less worrisome than having ones house under water.

There has also been this sensationalized report about the mother whose two children drowned because a neighbor wouldn't let them inside his house.  Oh my god!  It is too effing much to bear.  I feel my heart in my throat.  It's so unbelievable.  She's been too upset to comment so far.  Um, you think?  She's probably wondering how she will go on living.  I am sure she can't even imagine a reason at this stage.  I keep wondering how long it will be before someone tells her it's ok because she can have more children or that they are in a better place.  Surely, friends have already told her that they will go home and hug their own kids tighter after hearing her story (then, presumably, they will play parcheesi and talk about deforestation).

The fact is - the world DOES keep spinning even though the worst you can imagine has happened.  People will keep throwing parties and celebrating.  Pretty soon, people will probably start making the sick humored jokes about the storm and throwing "The storm is over" parties.  They will even try to convince you to join in the party, wondering out loud why you wouldn't want to raise a glass to toast the event.  The fact is that in every story, there are real live people who are suffering, who have lost unfathomably, who don't want to join the celebration..... because they just need to try and figure out how to get through the next minute of their life.