Hindsight Is So 20-20

I just glanced at an email that said something about the "poor" people (yes, in quotes, as though we all know the truth) in New Orleans who could've left/evacuated via a $10 ticket out of town. I didn't take the time to read the entire article; I'm sure I missed out on a wealth of knowledge. Like was mentioned by a smart someone I know (okay, my husband), this $10 didn't include all the expenses that would be incurred at the other end of that ride: motel rooms for who-knows-how-many nights; food; toiletries; possibly clothes and other miscellaneous; fare back home. It wouldn't have just cost $10 to leave. And maybe there were five or six or ten people to consider (we all know how poor people reproduce, like rabbits). So now we're at $100. Not counting all the above-mentioned expenses. Not to mention wages missed. So, that's one thing. Those "poor" people had but a short time to consider all those facts....Another thing: hurricanes aren't exactly news in the South. How many storms and hurricanes had most of those people lived through, some with barely a scratch, barely a shifting of possessions? Who could have possibly known the tragic outcome? They would've been labeled foolish and paranoid if every time there was a hurricane warning, they headed for the hills with all the possessions they could carry. It's true that this was shaping up to be a Big One. But again, who could've imagined the outcome? NOW we know. Now we can see what should've been done, what could've been done. If some of those who lost everything, who lost loved ones even, if they could re-decide, I'm sure that all of them would pick the $100+ it would've cost. If they had the option at all, they would pick it now. But we don't always get to pick after knowing the end of things. Sometimes we have to pick in a moment of little information. Sometimes we pick and just have to hope we're picking the right thing. Sometimes we don't have any choice of even picking anything. Sometimes we just don't get to choose. And for those of us who are living far from the storm and its aftermath, who are living relatively comfortable lives (even the lives of kings, relatively), who are we to hand out verdicts on what should have been done? Who are we to get to dismiss the "poor" who didn't leave and, we've decided, could have?

Right now part of the roof of our house is off because we're in the middle of a remodel. We're trusting of course that this is a very temporary position we're in, being semi-roofless. And right now we're hoping it doesn't rain like has been said might happen tonight or tomorrow. Thirty percent chance of thunder showers. If it does rain, we sure will know that we should've taken the time and energy and ucky effort to tarp the whole roof area that's exposed. We sure will know then. If it rains. After the fact. It'll be really clear then. But we've got a choice right now, and it doesn't seem likely that it will rain and we're taking our chances. It would be a huge effort and unpleasant and have to be done in the dark. Doesn't seem worth it from where we stand on this side of things. It may look different on the other side of tomorrow.

There's much to be said on this subject, enough for a person to meld right into his soapbox and become one with it, so long would he be there. But I'll just end it with the trite reminder that Hindsight Is Twenty-Twenty.