Service and Survivors Guilt
I was recently in Buncombe County invited by those leaders and community members working hard on recovery from Helene. When your world has been turned upside down, this is an especially hard time of year. One woman in Swananoa talked about what it was like to have one of the few livable houses on her […]
Power, Influence, and Resilience
We can always use power* to make people do things. Or, we can use education and influence to make them want to — one of these works better and lasts much longer. As I contemplate my new role and challenge I’m mindful that I’m operating in an arena where the focus is on power. How […]
Please Continue Active Caring
This is day 5. We are moving into “this is unbearable and it must be someone’s fault”. Blame and criticism are the weapons we have to deal with our frustrations. Disasters by definition exceed the ability of our systems to function. We prepare by staging and calling up additional resources when a disaster strikes. It’s […]
Chaos / Collision
Today I’m working on a hard section of my Big Fat Writing Project. It’s a particular stage of long term “recovery.” When the needs of those impacted directly collide with the bureaucracies intended to “assist”. I’ve struggled with this chapter. Wrestling with this material is a good mirror of the experience itself. (Mirror: a reflection […]
Starting Places
Five years ago, Judge Ed Emmett rang me up as I was juggling two phones trying to get information about which of our centers were flooded and which were dry. As then CEO of BakerRipley I was thinking past the immediate emergency of drastic flooding and stranded people, trying to inventory what assets we had […]
The Sweat of Terror
Australia Ten years ago I was in Australia, near Melbourne, with people who had lived through a nightmare. The Kinglake fire is still often referred to as Australia’s worst natural disaster. The Black Saturday bushfires killed 173 people, 120 in the Kinglake area alone. Another 414 people were injured. More than 450,000 hectares burned and 3500 […]
Commandments of Help
How to help in disasters Trust is everything. You can move at the speed of trust. Perform within the container of trust. You will go as far as trust can stretch. Improvisation is critical if you want to be effective. If you lack the courage – or the cover – to break useless rules – […]
Limbo Limbo Limbo
slow and low I share about patterns. Here’s the pattern we’re in with respect to recovery (if we can call it that). More about the troublesome nature of that word – recovery – next time. A lot of us are whispering “I’m so tired.” And we aren’t the “get a good nights sleep and all […]
2016
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 One of our early Houston founding families supported the creation of settlement houses and community centers, because, as he said, “neighbors should live as friends”. I just recently returned from Germany. A country leading the struggle to welcome newcomers, to make a place for over a million Syrian refugees. German […]
Upheaval
Yesterday I wrapped up another class about disaster and displacement. Lessons learned by those whose lives have been washed/bombed/burned away. One of the deepest realities: we’re all vulnerable creatures on a common journey. Upheaval is a part of the journey. War or weather. Loss of health or wealth. This ain’t heaven. It’s earth. We’re all […]