Devastation of New Orleans, Louisiana USA should give everyone many clues what to do personally, collectively, for themselves and for the United States as a whole.
Destruction from natural forces is not in our control. Some factors, such as making sure a roof is constructed to withstand severe wind, we can make sure, but when the house underneath that roof is on land that is below sea level, or even at or above sea level, when floodwaters move that house off its foundation, or wind itself moves the house, saving that house is beyond what we can do.
On the other hand, loss of life is unnecessary. Survival is never guaranteed to any of us, but there is much we can do to save ourselves. The City of New Orleans made a promise to its citizens to evacuate them in case of disaster such as Katrina. When the disaster came, City of NO was not able to deliver on its promise.
It is one thing to promise a ride out of town. Among other things I have been a bus driver for a number of years. I am asking myself now what I would have done had it been my responsibility to drive a bus full of survivors out of New Orleans while at the same time my own family ... but I have been there already, so I know.
Something lost in all the endless arguments, finger-pointing, being distracted by the "octopus' shell-game" which is intended to keep us off-balance and not paying attention to what is important, rights being taken away from us, precedents being set ...
Personal responsibility is required for any of us to survive.
We have allowed, been guilted into, too busy to notice, or cared too little or too late while laws have been passed which "guarantee" something special to someone, some group, some would even say to some class of people ... and whether we might argue such laws were or are necessary, the overall result is that some of our citizens are increasingly dependent on someone else to provide safety, income, housing ... or maybe a ride out of town.
An evacuation plan should provide for the elderly, and for infants and small children and nursing mothers. Able-bodied women with small children should also be included, because of the children. There are others in sick-beds, recently suffered accidental injury, etc. who will be temporarily in need of someone else to get them to safety. An evacuation plan must be realistic, must work.
It is up to the rest of us in a civilized society to "drive the bus" as it were. Someone in this forum has already pointed out that it should be the responsibility of neighbors to help each other - that rescue by "government" is a backup, or should be for most of us.
In other words, every single one of us should have a plan of survival; stocking food for a few weeks being confined to one's home for instance. Every one of us should also have our own personal evacuation plan - that is, know which road to get out of town, which might be a different route depending on the reason for evacuating. Such a plan has to include transportation, so that if one cannot provide own transport, there must be someone who will drive, provide a vehicle, purchase fuel ... obviously an essential part of such a plan.
Such a plan requires cooperation with others. We cannot be isolated if we intend to survive.
An evacuation plan is not worth much unless one considers a destination. What will you do at destination ? Where will you stay ? How and where will you find necessities there ? How long will you stay there ? What if the situation requires you cannot return home again ?
What you are asking, Christina, is a lot more than what I am telling you right now I realize, but it all starts here. IMO most Americans today cannot even point to a survival plan, much less a personal evacuation plan. That means those persons are totally dependent on some government entity for their own survival. That means those persons do not have control of their own lives.
The United States of America was not built by people who were not self-reliant. The United States will not survive unless enough of us regain that control, and soon.
The choice belongs to each of us, whether to save ourselves and what is dear to us as best we can, or be confined for five months minimum in what can be considered no less than a detainment camp provided by FEMA, from which if you choose to leave early, you forfeit any further assistance from the Master of the Plantation (thanks to Mason Weaver).
