Originally Posted By: Lono
Please remember that like there is a spectrum of folks who are prepared or unprepared, there are a lot of folks who are also rendered vulnerable by a disaster, to different degrees.
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Being prepared before hand can help a lot, as long as you avoid the path of the tornado - not everybody can do that, and I think its cruel to assume it when you look at people on the news. With all our generators and water caches, it doesn't do you a whit of good if your home is destroyed and takes it all away.
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The images of angry wahoos fighting for the gas pump are an amazingly small, small fraction of what's going on, but it makes news. I think its a mistake to allow the images of the wahoos to color your perceptions about who is really asking for help here. There but for the grace of allah goes the rest of us, safe and comfortable many miles away.

From the safety of our perches, lets give all of them their allotment of dignity and respect for the day.

Well said, Lono.

I expect most generators won't start so easily, after being submerged under 5 ft of salt water? All that rice you have cached might not taste so good then either.

Being self reliant and prepared is a noble idea. But some folks get way too self rightous about it. Even the most prepared among us could easily find ourselves in a situation where we desparately need the help of friends, neighbors, the red cross, or even (dread to think) the government.
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"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."
-Dorothy, in The Wizard of Oz