[Prudence]

When I'm overwhelmed, I have a tendency to hyperfocus on smaller elements that I feel more able to control -- sometimes at the expense of the more important issues. I can easily picture myself trying to restore some type of mental order and running into someone I perceive as able to facilitate my home rebuilding and immediately asking them when they could get started with that.

What I find striking about this disaster is how it seems to be going wrong on all levels. Preventing this scale of disaster was delayed. Planning to handle this scale of disaster was delayed or repackaged for the war on terror. Response by local officials was delayed. Response by federal officials was delayed. And now, comments on the refuge situation are misguided (and that's the polite version.) Every time one thinks "well, at least they can't mess* this up any further" someone does or says something that defies all logic and civility.

I wonder if some of the folkd recently quoted quite simply don't get it. There have been any number of newstories highlighting the poorer than average demographic affected by this storm and the subsequent flooding. I wonder if some picture the more typical Floridian experience of throwing the tarp on the roof, replacing those items that weren't moved to the upper floors, and filing a homeowner's claim to cover the damages? I wonder if some people can't comprehend that some people, who we might previously described as "having nothing," now literally have nothing?

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*Replace with expletive of your choosing.