Being Ready

I was raised in a family where being over prepared was the way to go. At home, I had an entire room dedicated to foodstuffs, filled with enough snacks, drinks, and foods to feed an army. It could be considered good preparation, or it could be that my mom likes to shop. Either way, I was always prepared for anything while at home.

But this past week was the first disaster I experienced without being home. I had to take care of myself. Of course my mom was calling me “Buy this, buy that, don’t do this, be home by 7, subways won’t run”…and the list goes on. But being raised in that kind of family, I was already doing what I had to do. My clothes were washed, batteries bought, the last thing was food. No longer could I open a pantry and have the variety choice of a supermarket aisle; this time I was on my own. And spending my own money, I was not going to get the same buffet of snacks I had at home.

I set out to the grocery store around the corner and as anticipated, the lines were long. I guess many people were preparing just as I was. But the spectrum of preparedness was so vast it was shocking. I predicted the storm to be bad, but some people looked as if they were planning for the apocalypse. Seeing full carts of food and stacks of water cases scared me. In my arms were only a couple cereal boxes, chips, and cookies I was going to share with a friend back at the dorm. Was I underprepared or were they being irrational? They scared me into going back and getting some more crackers.

Citing Isabel’s post, as we were waiting on line, we encountered the other side of the spectrum. Nothing but crates of beer would last these guys for the storm. Clearly we were not on the same page. It was irritating that they were playing Sandy off like nothing, making jokes about it, but who am I to tell them off. News reports of the storm and seeing everyone else carry food and water apparently meant nothing to these two. This beer would sustain them through if things got bad. How there were people like that after all the warnings I have no idea, but they just had a different mindset.

We all heard the same news, got the same warnings and live in the same area. So the range of preparedness came as a culture shock. How can New Yorkers go from preparing for the end of the world, to laughing about “a little rain?” Guess that New York state of mind differs when dealing with natural disasters.

These kinds of lines…