Thinking of WVa

There's been some really horrible flooding in West Virginia. Twenty-four people have died, many, many more lost everything....in some cases, apparently there were minutes of lead-time to get out.

The Greenbriar Resort has apparently had a lot of damage, and its golf course is under water (a PGA event scheduled there has been canceled). They're saying 44 counties, everywhere but the panhandles (there's panhandle at the north, and one at the east - the eastern one is not TOO far from where my brother and sister-in-law live. And they are fine, no flooding there).

Apparently the city where I was born (Morgantown) is largely unaffected but much of the rest of the state was.

And I do feel a bit of a connection to this, perhaps more than some people do, because I was born there. I never lived there very long - my parents moved to Ohio when I was still a baby and I only barely remember a trip back there when I was 3 or 4. But I do feel some attachment because I was born at University Hospital in Morgantown, so.

A couple of thoughts....

I feel sad for the people, and I plan to do something to help out with the recovery effort (I just have to decide on the best place to donate to; I am holding off to see if there's anything going to be done through the Disciples of Christ (the denomination I belong to); West Virginia is next door to the state where they originated and I think the Disciples have a pretty big presence there). But I don't feel angry about it in the way I feel angry after a shooting - this is just nature, which is literally senseless and does not decide whom to attack. With human badness, I feel angry as well as sad: that person CHOSE to do that thing that he or she did and he or she could have chosen differently. But I do feel sad for the people who lost loved ones and for the people who lost their homes. And I suspect, knowing what I know about West Virginia, a lot of people who lost everything will have a hard time replacing it.

I also think of a young woman I saw interviewed. She saved her own life by clinging to a tree as the flood waters swept past her. They asked her what gave her the strength to hang on (I want to say it was for a couple hours). She said she prayed. And also, she thought of her three children (who apparently had gotten to safety before she could). Also, as time wore on, people trying to rescue her called to her to hang on. But it did strike me: were I in that situation, would I be able to hang on? I don't have children, or really anyone who needs me in the way a child would need me. Would praying, the thought of my friends and what family I do have, and the thought that I might be rescued soon be enough to keep me hanging on to the tree?

(I will also note for parents who have grown children out on their own: they still need you. I still need my parents. Not financially, not to feed me, but I still need them. I am slowly getting my mind used to the idea that some day I will not have them with me any more, and I still kind of rebel at that idea.)

I do plan to write a check as soon as I decide on the place that will use it the best and fastest to help the people who need help. Even though I complained about making adjunct wages this summer and I WILL have to be careful how I spend my money until September. But I will also note two things: I spent about $200 on myself on Friday, and none of it was stuff that I needed for the "base levels" of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. And also, I've had the experience in the past that when I stepped out and said, "I trust the way things work that donating this money will not lead to me being in need myself later," something has sometimes (not always, and I don't expect it) happened - either I get hired to review a textbook chapter, or I receive a refund on something I didn't realize I was due a refund for, or something.

And yeah, I know: this is one area where I have less trouble trusting Providence than in others. Mired in the day-to-day I have a hard time trusting that if things get so bad in this state that I wind up no longer having a job, that I will somehow find another way to support myself. I have a hard time trusting that there are enough decent people in the world to keep things running. But I can at least trust that sending a hundred bucks or whatever to relief efforts won't break me. Baby steps, I guess.