Mercifully, the election is over. Hopefully, the noise and anxiety produced in the lead up will quickly fade into the background. The victors, in a state of euphoria, act as though they have a mandate from on high and the losers, angry and depressed, are throwing blame and contemplating their navels. All of this is normal. For tens of millions of human beings in faraway places such as the Sudan, Ukraine and Beirut, Lebanon, their daily lives continue to be precarious, to say the least. For the rest of us, life goes on, and groceries still cost more than a year ago. Dissatisfaction, anxiety and anger are the Kool Aid flavors du jour.
What, if anything do the election results have to do with our daily lives? As it turns out, not much. The cold, hard truth of the matter is that the mayor of the city in which you live and your state’s governor exert far more influence on your daily life than POTUS ever has or ever will. The case for being prepared has become more important than ever.
Everything is Local
There’s a saying in emergency management, disasters start locally. This makes sense because our lives are predominantly hyperlocal. In my case, the mayor of the city of Chicago and the governor of the state of Illinois are generally more impactful to me than POTUS. I can split hairs even further and say that the decisions of my ward's alderman are of considerable importance to me. Property taxes; sales tax; grocery bills and the gas pump; employment laws to include minimum wage; school boards and the response to street crime are all addressed locally. Even immigration reaches its flashpoint locally. Given the intensity and stress of our daily lives, we lack the bandwidth to adequately process more than a few things at a time. However, we’re encouraged to forget the local stuff and are regularly coerced, connived and cajoled into thinking that national events are all that matter.
Throw in some plausible misinformation and pair it with a solid disinformation campaign and you have the current state of affairs in present day America. Troublingly, our beliefs are often predicated upon the fact that we read outrageous claims online that have been repeated by others. More troublingly by far, people from the guy next door to captains of industry to elected officials intentionally and aggressively engage in this behavior solely to dupe and manipulate others. We believe things that have been easily disproven and for which there is scant evidence. This is something that I’ve ranted about before so you should see the inherent dangers in this mindset.
People are outraged over seemingly important issues while the time that can and should be spent on being better prepared is wasted. Of all the things we never get back, time is at the top of the list. Choose wisely. I’ll compromise with you, stay abreast of national affairs, but prepare for the local events. If you’ve not already done so, check out the post Critical Thought Theory.
Unplug and Disconnect
I’ve said this before and I’m going to continue to do so because it’s important. Get off social media and, while you’re at it, stop looking to social media platforms for evidence-based, fact-checked news. To be fair, misinformation and disinformation no longer solely occupies the fringes. It’s increasingly difficult to know whom to trust or even listen to, but you must figure it out. You have to. What you put in your head is just as important as the food you eat. Be careful, be highly selective and keep an open mind.
If everything you read and hear simply reinforces what you already believe and think you know, this is a problem. Again, keep an open mind. You’re only harming yourself by seeking out the echo chambers.
Things are Still a Thing
There’s a theme in fantasy novels that suggests that speaking the name of a powerful person or great evil gives it power and attracts it to you. Apparently, there is a real-world equivalent in which politicians and others refuse to acknowledge that climate change is legitimate, and that by refusing to acknowledge it, we can banish it. If only this were possible. Regardless of who occupies positions of power and influence, hurricanes are growing in frequency and intensity; wild fires are growing in frequency, intensity and in places they’re not known occur; tornadoes are growing in frequency, intensity and occurring in more populated areas outside of the well-established Tornado Alley.
Heat domes, atmospheric rivers and bomb cyclones are meteorological terms that made the leap from the science of weather forecasting and now exist in our daily consciousness. So yeah, deny the science all you want. Extreme weather is the new norm and it’s only getting worse as more lives are placed at risk. The flooding in Georgia and western North Carolina caused by Hurricane Helene was both unprecedented and life changing. Power is just now being restored to these areas. We’re never going to be able to stop extreme weather events. What needs to change is our behavior. For a variety of reasons, people will always choose to live in low-lying coastal areas and other areas in which favorable conditions exist for extreme weather events and other natural hazards. However; living in such places doesn’t mean that being unprepared is a requirement.
Pursuits of Mortal Men
Money. Sex. Power. If mortal men desire anything else, I’ve yet to discover it. Of course, you can argue that there’s nothing inherently wrong with any of these things and you’d be correct. However, pursuing them to the exclusion of other higher goals is self-destructive and ill-advised. Emergency preparedness isn’t sexy nor does it make money. To the contrary, effective emergency management is costly and, if I’m being honest, somewhat boring. You rarely hear about the people who are prepared. Indeed, those who are prepared are portrayed as weird, an anomaly. What’s more, the perception is that being prepared is difficult or requires special effort. Neither is true.
Granted, being prepared requires a shift in the way you think and what you prioritize. Beyond that, it’s as simple as placing your activities on a calendar. No one goes from unprepared to ready to hold off the zombie horde in a week. In addition to buying supplies, you must also educate yourself and get relevant training. Grab the checklists and get started.
If your candidate didn’t win; get over it and move on. Assess your present level of readiness and identify what resources you have. On the off chance your candidate of choice’s economic policies translates into more money in your pocket, be sure to use the extra coins to buy the supplies and equipment you need. Extreme weather and the powerful storms it creates are here to stay.
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