Editors Note: The good and the bad in real time.
“My faith in humanity restored”…”THIS is how Americans really treat each other”….”We see heroes and victims, we don’t see colors”….the images are undeniable, they are both heart-breaking and faith-restoring.
This is the America we know, these are our neighbors and friends and our family members stepping up. This is happening in Texas. As someone who has been to 49 of our 50 states I know this would also happen in Alaska and Florida and Maine and California and all the places in between, and yes, even Hawaii. Stories of large furniture stores opening their doors to all who need a refuge, bakers working around the clock and giving away the food, pizza chains delivering free pizzas by kayak to flooded homes, beer companies switching production to canned water and donating it for free, are endless.
Sadly, to every silver lining there is a cloud, and in this case it is price gouging and looting. Two (2) more reasons to prep if you aren’t already. It is about being realistic as to the endless good in some people as well as the expedient dismissal of rules and laws and moral behaviors in others. And even the good can turn to the dark side when they are cold and wet and hungry and desperate.
Chain store employees and their local management NOT thinking that for every extra $40 a case they make on bottled water, they will be loosing thousands from customer who will see this and never buy from them again. Hotels, working the economics of “scarcity” with 17,000+ local households displace, and thousands of rescue workers flowing in, tripping their rates; gas stations hiking prices 10% in a single night in spite of the fact that they had no new delivery at a higher price but did it in “anticipation” of that event. In reality, while it could be a reasoned out as a rational economic move, not on this grand a scale and over a single night and people, especially people in desperate circumstances, have long memories.
The message here is clear to preppers, we know these things may come to pass and we wish to maintain as high a place on the food chain as we can for as long as we can. We look to protect ourselves and our families and that is a noble thing.
And then, at the bottom of the food chain, looting:
As we know in a SHTF scenario this is to be expected of people in need, and supplies left unattended, but that is not the case here. This is the ROL ending, even briefly, and this is motivated by hate more than need. Remember that the next time someone asks you why you prep. It is real and it would happen from sea to shining sea and this is something people need to prepare for, come to grips with, and have a plan.
I expect a lot of comments as this is an emotionally charged issue. Twitter is buzzing with well-wishes as well as message so hate-filled I will give them no platform. Humans are complicated in the comforts of a stable environment, unknowns when thrown into chaos.
As Howard Ruff said “It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark”.