Memorial Day Salute

Until the 1960’s, it was called Decoration Day.  Perhaps the Hippy-Dippy 60’s interpreted “decoration” differently and that term no longer carried the meaning of honoring our fallen soldiers.  Regardless, it is a day to remember that there are those who do extraordinary things for causes that are often seen from the general public as “someplace else,” or noteworthy, yet far and remote from one’s average, daily life.

We all need to turn off the TV, stop texting, or shooting electronic birds at pigs and take a moment to think about those who have and are willing to sacrifice, often with their lives, to support and promote what we all take for granted – the ability to vote freely, drive cars on extensively maintained road systems, live where we want (generally) and say whatever we want (with some qualified restrictions).  We need to stop, take a deep breath and remember that we are not here just by our own doing, but by the strength and bravery of many before us.

I have the highest respect for those in the military and their sacrifice, sometimes the ultimate one, but I would like to point out that there are others that deserve a memorial nod as well.  They are the common Joe or Jane, that anonymous person, who has appeared in the more dire circumstances to lend a hand, dig through rubble, or risk their own life to save others.

The first that comes to mind is Rick Rescorla.  He was the Head of Security at Morgan Stanley who for months had prepared, then safely evacuated nearly 4,000 people from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  He perished after he went back into the building to try to save others.   In 1985, an 8.1 Magnitude earthquake violently shook Mexico City, killing over 10,000 people (with some estimates closer to 40,000).  Common people, mostly untrained and with no gear or tools, spontaneously formed teams and started sorting through the rubble.  Close to four thousand people were saved, but over 130 rescuers lost their lives in that effort.  In 1998, a man swept away in a terribly muddy wall in a Laguna Canyon mudslide, plucked a 9-month infant from the muck and handed her to a rescuer before digging out himself.

There are those who give so much and I would just like to take a moment to say thank you and another moment just to say nothing.  I just want to pause and take a moment to breathe deeply and feel the wonder of life and feel very grateful that on this planet there are many with much to give.  I’m glad there is Memorial Day.  We need to remember.

Expectations

We all have them.  We expect certain things in certain situations.  Some are required by law, such as expecting people to stop at stop signs, while others are by common courtesy, like holding a door open for the person behind you.  Sometimes it is more hopeful, such as expecting chocolate, especially the good stuff, for Valentine’s Day, or the routine expectation of my paycheck automatically depositing into my checking account every month.  Nevertheless, we live in a world of constant expectations in our normal day to day activities.  But what happens when the day is not so normal?

What got me thinking about this was a recent conversation with my sister.  While on the phone with her, her two small-pony-sized dogs started barking.  Probably at someone with the audacity of walking past her house.  At any rate, these two can create quite the racket, which makes it nearly impossible for someone to hear on the other end of the telephone.  Being a devout Cesar Millan devote’, I handle those situations by excusing myself from the conversation, shishing my dogs, along with a stern stare and upright body posture, until they stop, which is surprisingly (always for me, anyway) pretty quick.  My sister, on the other hand, simply started talking to her two housemates.  “Boys, boys, keep quiet, please.  No, I said be quiet.  Be quiet, please.”  To no one’s surprise, except, apparently, my sister, the dogs continued to bark and tell that nasty trespasser to get away from the house until he was out of sight.  Patiently, I waited on the other end until all the ruckus and polite pleading ended and my sister continued the conversation as if nothing had happened.

Did she really think that: 1) The dogs knew English and 2) Saying “please” would matter? I am quite certain that she could have “sworn like a sailor” (a saying my great Aunt would say, although there is absolutely no proof that sailors swear, nor do so remarkably...), or spoken Chinese and the dogs would have responded the same way.  They did what they wanted to do, which was to bark until they were done barking.

So, what should we expect in times of crisis?  Do we expect an orderly response, or raging chaos?  Do we expect that leaders among us will step up and take charge and organize us to do what needs to be done?  It’s hard to tell when daily life continues to plod on and the big challenges, like giant earthquakes, floods, fires, or terrorists are just threats listed in planning documents.  But we do have expectations.  Will what we expect really happen?

This is the crux of all preparedness stuff that we do.  We plan and prepare so that what we experience will align with our expectations when something really goes south.  At least that is what I hope all my work is for.  Expecting the worse, planning for it, then expecting that the crisis is something you can get through.

And maybe I will bounce this idea off my dog.  Politely, of course.  With luck, maybe he will have a pearl of wisdom to share.  That’s my expectation, anyway.

The Big One is coming, the Big One is coming!...

On the evening of April 18, 1775, after being rowed across the Charles River, then riding on a borrowed horse, Paul Revere traveled nearly 20 miles along unlit, dirt roads and shouted to residents along the way. “The British are coming!” All the way to Lexington he rode, to let Samuel Adams and John Hancock know that the British were indeed en route and it wasn’t a social visit.

 I am not a doom’s day person, but I do feel the need to warn people that we are “due” for a major (7-point-something) earthquake in Southern California. I blog, I speak, I post, but it really can’t hold a candle to Paul Revere’s heroic and difficult task. In those times, it seemed that people were more tuned into what was happening with their community and their country. TV and computers and video games were not around to distract people from their lives.

But, I am not deterred. Expecting communication and interests to remain constant is futile and silly, so I am looking for my own borrowed horse from which to spread the news – the Internet. Recently, I was shown an incredibly video on You Tube (the name of my horse on the internet) which brought earthquakes events from around the world right to your computer screen. Each shaker was morphed into dots, corresponding to the size of the earthquake, then placed sequentially on a world map to show the time and magnitude of each event. The result is an 8 minute light show of all earthquakes that occurred in 2011.

2011 was a memorable year for earthquakes. (See the Wikipedia entry for this at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakes_in_2011#January) Notable were the multiple deadly shakers in March in Honshu, Japan, which took the lives of nearly 16,000 people (although most died because of the ensuing tsunami), Christchurch, New Zealand in February and Turkey in October. Also noteworthy was the measly magnitude of 2.7, but notable earthquake in Ohio, the first ever recorded there.

To visualize these events, we thank You Tube. In this video, the introduction in Japanese shows the relationship between the circles and the earthquakes’ magnitudes. You need not know Japanese to understand what they are showing you. Next comes the best part – the entire year in earthquakes flashing in front of you, from January 1st through December 31. It is nothing short of mesmerizing. What is really amazing is the seemingly non-stop flashing of lights in Japan. There is a constant flicker, then, on March 11, it really likes up.

What I like to point out is what is not happening. Specifically, the west coast of the United States is uncannily dark. Hardly a blip of light anywhere. It has been over 300 years since the southern end of the San Andreas fault has had any significant seismic activity and this, to some experts, is way past its due date.

So, take a look and see what you think. Time to get that earthquake ready? Yes, I think so. View the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwWn_W6ZbT4. Then I’ll see you at the store -- shopping for supplies.