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LIFE COACHING

Dealing with disasters and adversity.

Connecting For Results #55
October 4, 2004
Copyright © 2004 by Bill Dueease

Since the last newsletter about my own personal experiences with hurricane Charley, we have also endured hurricane Francis, and anxiously watched hurricane Ivan as it was originally headed our way then veered off west and missed us. Then we also experienced the arrival of hurricane Jeanne.

Results of Hurricanes Charley, Francis, Jeanne, and Ivan.

Charley caused serious damage to our area and wherever it went. Francis caused less damage for us, with power outages lasting only 2-4 days, and with only some flooding. Others north of us felt considerable flooding and increased winds from Francis. Ivan missed us but caused serious wind and water surge damage where it landed at Pensacola, Florida and points north. Many areas in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and elsewhere suffered wind and heavier flooding. Jeanne followed the same path Francis did and we were hit once again with wind, water and outages.

The people in Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte just 20 miles to the North of us felt the full wrath of Charley and almost the whole county suffered serious, if not total, destruction. Then Francis came and blew off the tarps covering the roofs of buildings with roofs, and dumped a lot of rain on the now porous partial homes and buildings. Then Ivan threatened the area for days with its category 5 winds but luckily it veered west. And just when the Punta Gorda people thought it was clear, along came Jeanne and through back winds and high tides caused serious flooding from the Peace River rising five feet over flood stage. The Punta Gorda area, which is only 20 miles north of Fort Myers, got slammed three different times. It could have just as easily happened to us in Fort Myers. We are on connecting watersheds.

I participated in our church's day effort to clean up just one mobile home park near Punta Gorda after Charley (and before the other hurricanes) and saw the overwhelming destruction. We picked up and stacked tons of aluminum and Styrofoam (yes at least a ton of Styrofoam) at this one single trailer park. Not to mention the tons of trees we cut up and stacked.

Several hundreds of people have died and tens of billions of dollars in damage has been caused by these four natural forces of nature. It will take many years for the hard hit places to be rebuilt and restored.

Modern Man has progressed so far.

We now live in the 21st century and have progressed so far in science, communications, space travel, medicine, and technology in the past 50 years that new breakthroughs in these areas are becoming almost routine. We have landed on the moon several times, driven remote controlled rovers over the surface of Mars, opened up the genetic secrets of living organisms (including humans), become connected to the world with hand held computers and cell phones that allow us to talk or write to almost anyone. We can even see their pictures, almost like the Dick Tracy wristwatch. We can sit at home on our computers and view real time satellite pictures of the weather (and the hurricanes, which I watched closely, especially Ivan) and view what the rovers see on Mars.

Yet, we are still at the complete mercy of the weather. The four hurricanes that hit Florida this year operated completely on their own. We had NO CONTROL over the weather. We could only "hunker down" and ride out the hurricanes, or escape to higher less windy ground. What is fascinating are the reactions of the people so greatly affected by these uncontrollable weather events.

Floridians and Americans react positively to the hurricanes.

I have noticed how people in Florida and elsewhere in the US, who take the brunt of these storms, sometimes several times over, eventually rise back up to live again. Few people complained about the hurricanes, because there is no one on earth to complain to. Only God can affect the hurricanes. He has His plans. People down here have shown a genuine toughness, resiliency and camaraderie in weathering the storms together. Looting, and other attacks on each other have been very rare. Giving, and mutual support, both psychologically and physically has been rampant.

There exists a calm determination to survive together and a very common perspective has risen: People who have suffered are exhibiting gratitude and thankfulness. They feel this way because they know that their neighbors have suffered much more.

The organized, and even spontaneous, team efforts to clean up and repair the damage caused by each hurricane has been massive, continuous and very productive. Worker ants are considered by many to be the hardest working, the most team oriented, and most productive creatures on the earth. However, they have been surpassed by the thousands of hard working highly spirited and very caring people, who have performed rebuilding miracles over the past 45 days.

Rebuilding and support crews came to the rescue.

Teams of power crews, phone crews, tree removal crews, insurance adjusters, FEMA inspectors, and suppliers of scarce necessities (like ice, generators and chain saws) arrived almost instantly after Charley from approximately 23 States. Seeing truck convoys of these crews from so many States was very moving. We cheered, and offered them water, ice, food and whatever gratitude we could when they showed up. What's fascinating is how much food, water, ice, etc. these crews brought with them that they gave to hurricane victims, out of their own pockets. They worked tirelessly to clean up and repair the overwhelming carnage caused by Charley, under awful conditions.

Local and out of the area Fire Departments galvanized their troops and went into the damaged areas. They cleaned up the mess, repaired damaged facilities, searched for the injured and missing, provided emergency medical care and provided needed supplies (like water, ice and food). AS VOLUNTEERS! Police, and firemen took control of roadway intersections where traffic lights had ceased operating, to direct traffic, and emergency crews.

Then these same crews moved on to the other areas in Florida to assist others to recover from the other three hurricanes. They are continuing to rebuild on an emergency pace as I write this newsletter. Neighbors helped neighbors and went across town or into other counties to help others get back on their feet, who were more devastated by the storms, without being asked and without seeking anything in return. A hearty thanks was more than enough reward.

The "We are in this together" teamwork and spirit has been remarkable, and only man can rise above the forces of nature through his cooperative emotions and effort. That has been happening in Florida, every day since August 13, 2004.

I am so thankful that I live in The United States, especially because of the morals, attitudes, generosity, integrity, and actions of my fellow Americans.

Conclusion

Adversity has been said to bring out the best and the worst in man. I feel blessed to have been surrounded by so many people who exhibited the very best during our mutual time of suffering.

We welcome your opinions and comments.

Bill Dueease
Editor

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