Responding to Sandy

Today our thoughts are with the metropolis as Sandy's devastation becomes clear. The day after is always the hardest, I think - the adrenalin is gone, the insurance paperwork is out, and neighbors face the reality of work - normalcy - by Monday.

This is my least favorite day because it's when we turn our lives into dollars. How much will it cost? Who will pay? What amount can the government afford? Why rebuild [insert expensive thing] at all?


As always during emergencies, when things that we think are permanent or reliable are no longer so, communities solidify. I hope we can be that solid community for each other.

Over fifty reported deaths so far. Nurses carrying infants down nine floors in the dark. 80 destroyed homes. Landmarks and memories washed away.

Here in New Orleans we are enjoying a ridiculously beautiful week - cool winds, clear skies, and the smell of rarely-used fireplaces as everyone gets their costumes ready. How heavy can our hearts be for our neighbors whose suffering we have shared?

I encourage you to have interstate compassion. Continue to check online sources that carry your thoughts east to Gotham.

And whatever you do, do not let anyone reduce a person, a life, a community or a network of relationships, to a dollar amount. Compassion is realizing that everyone has has someone who they would move mountains for, and that moving mountains for each other is the business of a global community.