Leaping to Conclusions

AFTER ATHENA-BROKEN DOGWOOD, FALLEN ANGEL (BACK LEFT) LIAM AND HAPPY BUDDHA

These last two and a half weeks following Sandy have resulted in seeing and experiencing unfamiliar happenings. Routines disrupted.  Schedules changed.  Activities canceled. Damage to homes, breakage of trees, fallen wires, orange cones and yellow tape. People came out to see, observe, report, share stories. Some folks welcomed the forced mingling, some tolerated it, and others recoiled. Openly and silently, some accused, some judged.  Assumptions were made, followed by conclusions. These conclusions were then told as stories and taken as fact.



Last night I am watching the news and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.is speaking. He is urging us not to leap to conclusions and to be careful with words.  He is referring to the expanding General Petraeus situation but I feel he is speaking to me about my storm behavior. I have made assumptions and leaped to conclusions during these last few weeks. I was wrong a few times and I'll share with you.

LIAM AND HIS FAVORITE ROSE OF SHARON

My health club was closed after Sandy for the entire first week. I assumed no power. On Monday, November 5, a few regulars returned. I was among them. Bathrooms closed, rugs being installed. The machines were in different spots. I thought... oh no!  They are renovating, What about folks who need to be warm and take showers and exercise? Why? We are family!!! Conclusion- they are using the storm as an opportunity to fix stuff. They should be a shelter! Two days later they lost power again. The owner opened to allow members to exercise- the owner talked to me- I was only woman who came in- he told me the story of how they had flooded after Sandy, so was much ruined-that he had to change all the carpets, move each machine himself. How he had wanted to have the members come in, be warm and shower. He had opened this day just so people could come in and resume their routines. I wrote a different story by assumption. I was wrong
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LIAM FINDS A NEW POSITION, SANDY HAS CHANGED THE VIEW

That did not stop me though, I was on a roll. I mentioned to another member (without power) that I saw someone power washing his driveway.  I expressed my intense disgust that this would be done in full view of others who do not have power. She thought a minute and said "people have anxiety, they do certain activities to comfort themselves:" I reflected on this and realized that I had assumed he was thoughtless and insensitive. Perhaps he was trying to calm his own fears and make his world controllable and routine again. Another point of view.

I continued my observations, always correct, I assumed. We live across the street from one of the North Hempstead POD (points of distribution) free water was available there. People went and received water. I was annoyed. Why do they need? This is for folks whose homes are flooded, displaced people, not people with power and supplies, they must have plenty.  I then saw these bottles of water were given to LIPA workers, to tree workers, and to town trucks on our block. I assumed greed, concluded hoarding -wrong.

We have a new normal. 

The landscape is changed

The world is askew

Time for a new point of view

We may live with storm anxiety for a long time, and peoples' actions may not be what they were before, they may be different just as all this is different.  Looking at it from another perspective is a must; Liam found a new sunny place, forward.

Woof, Woof