Meditation on Storms and Winds

You owe it to yourself to read Walter Russell Mead’s meditation on our helplessness in the face of great forces of nature.

37 comments… add one
  • Well, at least the buggers are back at work doing something. Wonder how Philly is?

  • jan Link

    Dave, what a wonderful piece — almost poetically written. Thanks for posting it.

    It seems whenever we are made aware of our vulnerability, openly acknowledging it, we actually become internally fortified, often finding greater peace within ourselves in facing/accepting the circumstances surrounding our given lives.

  • steve Link

    Nice piece. What I find a little irritating is the helplessness too many people have after the storm. When I had to go in early, I just threw my chainsaw in back and headed in. Had to stop once to cut my way through. If power lines are involved, I understand staying away, but when it is just a tree or two, not sure why you need to wait for some official person to show up.

    Steve

  • A hurricane is a major shock if you haven’t been exposed to one before. I can see people feeling helpless.

    My weather fear is the tornado.

  • Icepick will have a better handle on when it started, but since 2003-2004, the entire Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas has been scoured by hurricanes.

    The North-Northeast has had the equivalent virtually overnight. I’m shocked my self. That amount of devastation seems insurmountable.
    “Where do I begin?”

  • Historically, Category 2 or 3 hurricanes have struck New England and the Mid-Atlantic every couple of decades. The last 15 years or so have been relatively quiet and people have been lulled into believing that it never happened.

    I grew up in one of the relatively few parts of the country that experiences tornados, blizzards, thunderstorms, hail, the tail ends of hurricanes, and even an earthquake every now and again. It’s not that they hold no terror for me but rather a sort of fatalism.

  • But this was one BIG storm. I’ve talked to friends in Rochester and Port Clinton, OH. We all weathered Ivan together through the condo association.

    They’re okay, but it hasn’t been a happy time.

  • sam Link

    Russell was more eloquent:

    Brief and powerless is Man’s life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way; for Man, condemned today to lose his dearest, to-morrow himself to pass through the gate of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little day; disdaining the coward terrors of the slave of Fate, to worship at the shrine that his own hands have built; undismayed by the empire of chance, to preserve a mind free from the wanton tyranny that rules his outward life; proudly defiant of the irresistible forces that tolerate, for a moment, his knowledge and his condemnation, to sustain alone, a weary but unyielding Atlas, the world that his own ideals have fashioned despite the trampling march of unconscious power.

  • Andy Link

    My in-laws live in Cleveland and a 100 foot tree was blown over damaging the house. Fortunately, only the branches hit the structure. It did take out the overhead utilities though, so they are without power.

    I remember the last big storm there was a big cry to invest in burying electrical infrastructure. It’s pretty obvious that was not a resilient strategy in lower manhattan.

  • PD Shaw Link

    The National Flood Insurance program which subdidizes people living in floodprone areas contributes to the sense of disconnect and shock from the forces of nature. Its broke btw/.

  • You can say that, PD, but when we took over management of our condo we could cut rates because we didn’t have a mortgage. It allowed working class people to have a pleasant and comfortable vacation next to the beach.

    We had a great team from a paper mill in Kentucky. They took up the scant months of Sept-Oct at the flat rate of $500 a week. Great rentals — clean and conscientious.

  • PD Shaw Link

    Why should I help pay for someone else’s vacation condo? And I’ve been to Orange Beach, I wouldn’t consider that condo canyon to be primarily defined as working class. Not that there probably are not some that are, but AgriBusiness knows how to roll out the small farmer when they want their government money too. I certainly don’t see why I should be subsidizing Brett-Robinson.

  • Neither do I, and I’m glad to wash my hands of it.

  • It’s pretty obvious that was not a resilient strategy in lower manhattan.

    LOL!

  • It was in the family. My husband had been going down there since 1962.

  • To the beach, not the condo. It was built in ’84.

  • Pretty sand, but still sand, and it goes everywhere. And I haven’t had much of a vacation down there for 12 years. I was always working — decorating, inventory, minor maintenance. Major maintenance.

    Good luck to ’em.

  • PD Shaw Link

    My family first went to Gulf Shores in the early 70s, staying at the Sea Horse motel. I sort of miss the old Redneck Riviera:

    http://www.jdweeks.com/gulfshores.html

    From my perspective, the subsidies made largescale commercial investment more profitable and drove out the little people; there and elsewhere.

  • I wanted a weatherboard cottage with a freestanding fireplace.

  • Only cost about $1, 500,000 now.

  • The kids bought the condo with some mineral rights money. $95,000.
    My boy wanted them to buy beachfront. It ran around $100 a running foot. Last I heard it $150,000 a running foot.

    He was outvoted.

  • By the kids, I mean his siblings.

  • Those were the days, my friend….

  • The big rage down there is granite countertops with cherrywood cabinets.

    If you’re going to do that, why not just stay home?

  • The place is run by interior decorators. Not designers, decorators.

  • TastyBits Link

    We can now add New York City to the list of flood prone areas. I will be waiting for the calls to de-populate NYC.

  • TastyBits Link

    @PD Shaw

    You should be happy to know that the Flood Insurance will f*ck most people making a claim. Actually, not having flood insurance is the better option.

  • TastyBits Link

    If you know anybody who has been affected, here are a few tips to pass along:

    1) GET FLOOD INSURANCE. (for everybody)
    2) Have somebody help them go through their things, and keep them from tossing everything. Five years later, they will wish they still had some of the things they tossed.
    3) Warped, splitting, cracked wood can be repaired. Dry it as best as possible, and get a furniture restorer later.
    4) American made sofas cannot be replaced, but they can be re-covered.
    5) Reputable contractors will have a waiting list, and they will be more expensive. Make temporary repairs, and wait for a reputable contractor. A local contractor should have been in a previous year’s phone book.
    6) Get the roof repaired as fast as possible, but use an established roofer. Wait for a reputable roofer.
    7) A carpenter is not a contractor. A butcher and a surgeon cut muscle, but a butcher is not a surgeon.
    8) The place will be crawling with scammers. Scammers will promise twice much as a reputable contractor. The scammer will purchase the building material in the day, and the materials will be stolen that night.
    9) The Insurance Company is not your friend. The settlement will seem high, but everything will cost twice as much. They will also include cheaper materials – stain-grade fir vs. paint-grade pine.
    10) The government is not your friend. Once you get into and understand the system, it is a lot easier, but it takes time and patience. Also, the people who cheat have much less to lose. Do not take their advice.
    11) People will need 6’ long tables with the plastic tops. The more surface space the better. Folding chairs are helpful also.
    12) Plastic totes work better than boxes, and you can use them for years afterwards.
    13) A used sofa is better than nothing, and a $250.00 Big Lots sofa works great.

  • TastyBits Link

    Item number 8 was not supposed to be a smiley face.

  • Post that at OTB, won’t you?

  • TB, would you mind if I posted your tips over at OTB? Under the new media headline?

  • TastyBits Link

    @Janis Gore

    You can post them anywhere. Hopefully, they can help somebody. Homeless, helpless, and hopeless is a horrible, horrible feeling.

  • Cool. They’re now posted at OTB, Gone South and RadarLOve.

  • Alliterative mood, my dear?

  • TastyBits Link

    @Janis Gore

    A lot of people have had their lives turned upside down, and for many of them, it is going to get much worse. Most of these people evacuated, but they are not used to these events. My guess most of them left important documents including insurance papers and birth certificates, and few packed up items that can never be replaced – pictures, children’s drawings, yearbooks, etc.

    Much of the infrastructure has been destroyed, and many of the things that were normal have become rarities. Going to the store means planning. With limited gas supply, they will start topping off frequently, and this habit will last long after the supply becomes plentiful. When the grocery, big-box, fast-food, etc. stores finally open, the selection is limited, and you take what you can get.

    A lot of small businesses will never recover. Anybody who was struggling from the economy is totally f*cked. Their bills still need to be paid. The a$$holes will begin their usual crap. “New Jersey is full of crooks.” “They should not be living in flood prone areas.” “They are getting rich from the government.” Somehow these a$$holes will never say anything about NYC.

  • I know it. I wrote briefly about it at my blog.

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