I have been a real scrooge the past few years, I don't know why and I have quit worrying about it. I do believe it is the stress that the holidays bring.
So... this year I decided to give. I was going to withdraw some money and hand out $50 bills to folks I felt could use it. I don't have the money to give, we have a pile of bills to pay and barely make it from month to month but I thought this might help ME. But the little voice kicked in and started saying things like "they will use the money for drugs," " you will be enabling," etc. Therefore, for the moment that option is out.
Hey, I will buy a Christmas tree and decorations for 5 different families. I called the local Social Services with the idea with the criteria that the family, preferably a single parent family, must be working. No can do, you can't be that specific and it would be too time consuming for "them" to find me ONLY 5 families. So much for that idea.
So I turn to eBay, I will buy something from a non-profit organization. I am not a fan of the Red Cross or United Way, they siphon off way too much money for staff and admin costs (United Way 17+%) and the upper management makes in the 6 digits. I find some items for auction by a group helping Hurricane Katrina "Victims".
I go to their website to learn about them and they have a nice site, but some of the info like homes for rent... in New York City, jobs available in Ohio, seemed odd. I thought they wanted to rebuild New Orleans, by the way they are only working with New Orleans folks.
Then I start reading the news articles on their website pertaining to the hurricane. In the article one of New Orleans officials was quoted as saying "... this is the first time in American history that a whole town has been destroyed." That stopped me in my tracks. 1) the whole town was not destroyed and 2) most of the f**** death and destruction was preventable.
I am from that area and I recall discussion back in the 1970s on the failure of the levee. This is just when I began paying attention to that kind of stuff, I am sure they were talking about it way before that, like when the sucker was built and officials pocketed $$$ instead of doing the best job possible. Common sense tells you that when you are at sea level things shift and change and without proper maintenance and vigilance you get the levee that broke during hurricane Katrina. DUH.
Back to #1, I started looking for other American town disasters.....
Jacksonville, Florida: "By 1900 the city had a population approaching 30,000 people. The new century dawned with the Great Fire of 1901 when embers from a stove ignited materials at the Cleveland Fiber Factory. Before it was extinguished, the fire had destroyed nearly 2,400 buildings, decimated 146 city blocks, killed 7 people, left 10,000 people homeless, and destroyed $15 million worth of property. Fortunately, the city was once again quickly rebuilt and the population grew to more than 91,000 people by 1920." http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-South/Jacksonville-History.html
1888
March 11–14, East Coast: the “Blizzard of 1888.” 400 people died; accumulation of up to 5 ft of snow. Damage estimated at $20 million. (The town wasn't destroyed but this is pretty horrible considering the time period, resources and availability to warmth.)
1889
May 31, Johnstown, Pa.: collapse of South Fork Dam left more than 2,200 dead.
How about the drought in the mid-1930s. The "great dust bowl" covered 50 million acres in the south-central plains during the winter of 1935–1936. I have not seen any number on how many died and the number of towns destroyed and abandoned but I imagine it is well into the thousands.
Hurricane - 1900 Sept. 8, Galveston, Tex.: an estimated 6,000–8,000 dead, mostly from devastation due to tidal surge.
1906 April 18, San Francisco: earthquake accompanied by fire razed more than 4 sq mi; estimates range from 700 to 3,000 dead or missing. For more, see The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.
I live in tornado alley and there have been some horrendous tornado's that have destroyed towns. An interesting note by looking at the information on this website ... I noticed that for the most part the lose of life decreases as FOLKS LISTEN TO THE WARNINGS BEING GIVEN. We get about a 5 minute warning to get into the basement, if you have a basement. You bet your butt I am in mine and have my supply closet stocked at all times.
1840 May 7: Natchez, MS. A tornado ravaged the heart of the city, killing 317 and injuring over 1,000. The northern and central portions of the city were destroyed. 269 people perished on riverboats on the Mississippi River.
1908 April 24: Purvis, MS. The majority of the town of Purvis, MS. was leveled as a tornado moved from Amite, LA into Purvis. 55 people died as a result of this tornado in Purvis alone. People reported that the tornado was “2 miles wide” at times.
1925 March 18: Ellington, MO. to Princeton, IN. The “Tri-State Tornado” is the most deadly single tornado in history. Murphysboro, Illinois was the hardest hit by the tornado, where 234 lives were claimed. Several cities in the tornado’s path were obliterated, including: Annapolis, MO; Gorham, IL; Parrish, IL; and Griffin, IN.
1936 April 6: Gainesville, GA. A pair of tornadoes converged inside the city on the morning of April 6th, 1936. 203 people were killed and most of the city’s buildings lay in ruins. Damage estimates from the tornado were around $12.5 million.
1947 April 9: Woodward, OK. An F5 tornado moved through the northern portions of Woodward, OK. Over 100 city blocks were demolished from the tornado and over 1,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. 107 people were killed, 1,000 people were injured, and over $6 million in damage occurred.
1953 May 11: Waco, TX. 114 people died when an F5 tornado moved through downtown Waco, TX. A six-story brick furniture store was destroyed. The main street was filled with bricks from the building, in some instances nearly five feet deep. Some people were buried under brick for nearly 14 hours.
1979 April 10: Wichita Falls, TX. $400 million in damage occurred when an F4 tornado moved through Wichita Falls. Nearly 3,100 homes were destroyed and about 20,000 people were left homeless. 42 people were killed and 1,740 were injured.
1984 June 8: Barneveld, WI. An F5 tornado struck around 1 a.m. in the small community of Barneveld, WI. Nine people were killed, 197 were injured, and 90% of the community was destroyed. Over $40 million in damage was caused from this tornado.
2002 November 10: Van Wert, OH. An F4 tornado moved through Van Wert, Ohio around 3:30 PM local time, destroying the entire northwest corner of the city. This tornado was part of one of the largest November tornado outbreaks in history, with 70 tornadoes occurring within two days. Total damages from the outbreak totaled $490 million.
This was/is to date the most devastating to America and Iraq -
2001 Sept. 11, New York City, Arlington, Va., and Shanksville, Pa.: hijackers crashed 2 commercial jets into twin towers of World Trade Center; 2 more hijacked jets were crashed into the Pentagon and a field in rural Pa. Total dead numbered 2,992, including the 19 hijackers. Islamic al-Qaeda terrorist group blamed.
My conclusion is, I am a scrooge and I guess I will remain that way until whatever happens, happens, to turn me around. In the mean time I think that New Orleans needs to flush the pity pot and clean up the mess. The other devastated areas seem to be doing okay.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Jolly Kwanzaa and a Most Joyous Whatever You Celebrate
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