Gimme Shelter

It’s North Florida. Afternoon thundershowers are a fairly normal occurrence here. So, I wasn’t surprised when while out running errands recently when the skies opened up. No big deal. The usual series of things proceeded to happen where I live; people drive as though they have never seen rain before, traffic congests, tempers flare, parking spaces near entries to buildings are non existent and many common curtesies aren’t common any longer. As I was not in any particular hurry, I waited inside my vehicle, chatted on my phone and when the worst of the rain had passed and I could no longer delay the inevitable, I got out and ventured toward the grocery store. I had been outside my car no more than a second or two and had fortunately just closed the door of my vehicle when one of my kindly fellow citizens came through this crowded grocery store parking lot in his sizable SUV at about triple the safe speed for that parking lot at that time, especially in that weather. In doing so, he soaked me under the wall of water generated by his SUV and that tsunami blasted the cars on both sides of the parking aisle as well. “What a great F@#! American” I muttered as I slogged my way to the grocery store and wondered what the hell is wrong with people.

To make matters worse, I had just returned home after evacuating. My wife, dogs and I had chosen to get out of Dodge ahead of the wobbly drunken sailor that was Hurricane Idalia. Forecast to make landfall at one point directly south of where I live as a category four, being retired, having previously been required to work through these events and now not having to do so, we have plans in place to scram. I was surprised and confused when the storm blessedly careened east of us and spared my home town much more than tropical storm force winds that some of my friends and acquaintances seemed to evaluate my evacuation and the governmental response based on the eventual outcome. Curious. Some of these folks said things like “nothing more than an overblown thunderstorm” and “We live inland and were never in any danger these storms only effect the coast” and finally the partially true “The media always exaggerates these storms. It was no big deal”. Fact check: My city had 45,000 residents without power in the aftermath of the storm. Outlying areas did not regain power for as long as two weeks and these were the areas only hit by tropical storm force winds. The area where the storm made landfall and worked its way inland will not be the same for years to come. Some thunderstorm.

I am going to take just a moment to set a couple of records straight. In 1985 when I was in college, a little storm called Kate came rambling through my town on a nearly identical trajectory as Idalia. Kate was supposedly a “minimal” category two when she came breezing through our neck of the the woods and she knocked the frame out of our community for weeks. I hid in the bathtub of my rental duplex with a stray dog I’d found as tornados ripped all around the house. When I finally summoned up the courage to come out, it looked like a movie set…and one that I wouldn’t want to be on. In 2018, Hurricane Michael came ashore with a fury that was historic. Wind ripped buildings completely off foundations. Snapped trees like matchsticks. Killed, maimed and left entire communities homeless. So what kind of stinking thinking has crept into our collective minds that evaluating the potential danger of these storms should now be based on outcome? It missed us therefore it wasn’t dangerous???

Is it possible that these two seemingly unrelated topics (me getting soaking by some thoughtless jerk in the grocery store parking lot and some odd inability to critically think about natural disasters in our area) might be related? The more I thought about the problems, the more I believe that they are related. Hear me out, this might be one of my lengthier ones, but hopefully I’ll bring it together.

What seems to be missing in how people are treating each other lately? What’s missing in the risk analysis of these natural disasters? The ability for people to critically think in the twenty first century appears to have been seriously eroded, kindness is much more rare, and there is this strange inability to see anything except for what is happening right now. he last one is difficult, ephemeral, and wispy as concepts go. But it is there. Long term goals are less valued. Pension? what’s a pension?

Critical thinking is something that we all need to be able to be able do. Some are able to do it better than others, but I posit that most can be taught how to critically think. I recall vividly in school bringing newspaper clippings into class of things (politics etc.) that interested me and that I supported. We would have class discussions (civil) and then we would be forced to argue against what we believed in. Those types of things forced you to think in an educational setting. Before technology dominated our lives, a tree would fall across a road and we would have to work out with maps and our knowledge of the city alternate routes to get to where we were going. Technology has given us great advances in many ways, I it has also, I fear produced a “garbage in garbage out” effect. Most people don’t have to exercise that muscle at all and if they are in need of problem solving, they “ask Google or SIRI”. Or, even worse seek information on social media. No research needed. No real thought required. No independent sources cited. Algorithms feeding us what they think we want and need.

Traffic and grocery stores seem to be excellent microcosms of society to observe kindness in our fellow humans. What do the people who tailgate get out of tailgating anyhow? What about the guy who leaves his grocery cart in the middle of the aisle in the grocery store while he aimlessly compares ingredients on two loafs of bread while other shoppers back up in two directions? The list can go on…has your small town seemingly felt larger? More like a big city and less like akin to a small community? The city in which I reside is one where we did not lock our doors when I was growing up. Now it is one of the per capita most violent cities in the country. Many simple kindnesses are gone and I imagine social scientists will study the reasons for years and I suspect there is no one reason but one reason that stands out is the disease of “what’s in it for me?”. Let me start by saying that I do not object to doing something for yourself. We work to earn money for ourselves and our family etc. That said, sometimes we can, and we should just do things for others out of kindness. Yes, that’s right I said it. Just out of kindness. With no plan to be recognized. No plan to be paid back in some way. No thought of anything except just…doing something kind. Like, for example holding a door open for someone. Slowing down in a busy parking lot. Obeying the residential speed limit (oh yeah, that checks the critical thinking box too). Helping a neighbor (do you even know yours?). Giving money to a cause anonymously. Studies also show that these acts of kindness are also good for you.

I won’t spend a lot of time on the strange “live in the moment” thing I sense from a lot of people. But, it seems that it comes from an ever changing landscape of social media. This moment to moment landscape that has been created of likes, hits, views, trends and so on. Then, something changes and on to something else. Almost like some sort of electronic algorithmic ADD. There is only now, maybe tomorrow, but ten years from now? That’s ridiculous.

So what are the answers? There are no easy answers. To begin with, We must stop treating each other with disrespect and like enemies. If we disagree on something then we have to learn (once again) to do so in a respectful manner. A different opinion does not make one an enemy. We have to teach our children and our friends to critically think. Use the supercomputers in our pockets (our smart phones folks). Check various sources. Even check sources that (perish the thought) you may not politically agree with. Listen to voices other than your own or than “the algorithm”. The man who shouts into the silo only hears his own voice. Fact check. If it is important, or if it sounds outrageous, do some research and take the time to fact check. Recall that even if you disagree with your neighbor, you probably have hundreds of more things in common with him/her than the one or two things that you disagree about. Make an effort to find that common ground. It might just humanize them and might make it more difficult to make them into an enemy. Practice kindness. Hold doors for people. Say “yes” to projects at work even if you don’t want to do them. Volunteer somewhere without posting it all over social media for the world to see. Quietly do something for a neighbor. Drive like you live there. Remember that could be you under the wall of water in that parking lot. Work to build a callus on your hand to benefit someone else.

Grateful to our friends who showed us kindness and allowed us to shelter with them as Idalia came our way. Critical thinking, kindness and teamwork are required while dealing with a cattle like these. The bull in the pen was getting a vet visit and his horns measured at the same time. 89 inches as I took the picture.

There is a storm coming our way folks and if we don’t change our ways, we might just look up one day and find ourselves in the middle of it. Maybe a little less time on social media worrying about like, clicks, trends and so on and a little more time in the real world caring for the real people who inhabit it.

Matthew 22:39