Who Cares?!

v: @anamariecox 

Storm Sandy was nowhere near where I live, yet I could not escape it. It was everywhere you looked: online, on tv, on FB, Twitter... everywhere! And many of the people I care about were smack dab in the thick of it.

It was chilly in Chicagoland but sunny all week and so it seemed so weird that the East Coast could be almost washed away while I was busy running errands and going about my day. This was the first national disaster where I was watching my social media feeds and my phone document the scene my friends were going through. It was hard to hear and watch it without being able to help.

It made me tear-up to see folks offering to help my friend/agent Laurie get gas for her generator or to put up her family if they could make it to NH from NJ. Or the way Lisa was directing her friends how to get help if needed or where they could go to volunteer to help their NYC neighbors if able. Heartwarming!

And then there was the idiots like Donald Trump who instead of donating all he could to relief efforts was ridiculously continuing to try and bait the President with a $5M donation for his college transcripts. Or the desperately delusional Twitterer who thought it was amusing to put out false tweets about NYC conditions while New Yorkers were hungry for information. 

AP: Frank Franklin II

There were heros who tried to save people during  the storm who lost their lives that broke my heart and there were bi-partisan political buddies Obama and Christie that gave me hope. There was even the irony and beauty of a rainbow that appeared over Queens after much of it was ravaged. 

When calamity strikes it brings out people's true nature... and thank goodness most of us are there for our neighbors and do what needs to be done. The endless energy of Mayor Cory Booker driving around delivering diapers and supplies and checking in on people's grandparents; even the small kindness of letting others use their power so they could charge their phones made a difference. 

It warms my heart to see all the folks who truly care for each other in crisis. And for the ones that don't, it is their loss, because when darkness hits their door who will care about them?! 

[fyi:  American Red Cross needs cash and blood if you can spare either. I'm scheduled to donate blood at Lexington Health Care Center 675 S. Roselle Road, Schaumburg on Nov 6th at 2:30 if you want to join me :) ]