A little more about me...
In case you're confused, that last post wasn't about groceries, by the way. And again, the putative reader to which I speak may be purely hypothetical. But I think maybe somebody out there is reading this. That thought at least makes me happy.
So it says I live in D.C. That is a new development for me. You see, I had a house, a company, a family and a life in a great city in this country. The city was old and had been through a lot. America loved that city. It held its conferences there. It held its Super Bowls there. It looked to that city for escape and fun, culture and cuisine. And most importantly it looked to that city for utility. That city served this country in the most loyal way, through centuries, providing a nonstop, 24-7 stream of commerce. Every coffee bean in the U.S. went through that city. Every banana in this country went through that city. The Mississippi River, the most economically important inland waterway in the entire hemisphere, met the world's ocean system there. A huge percentage of the nation's domestic and foreign oil had something to do with that city and its immediate region.
But as usual, humankind managed to do what mother nature could not. For hundreds of years that city sat in the same place. It endured storms and plagues, disease and fire. But in the last thirty years, the nation needed more from that city than it was willing to give back. Canals and efficient waterways were constructed around the city to ease the flow of goods and oil. The human intervention in the geography of the area around that city, over the course of the last 30 years, led to a alteration of the area's natural defenses to storms, plagues, disease and fire. What used to be a buffer of 120 miles was depleated to 40 miles in some places.
It isn't hard to understand. Go to the beach. Build a sand castle 5 yards from the water. Watch the tide. Does the water affect your sandcastle? No, because you have 5 yards of buffer. Now dig a deep trench from the water to your sandcastle. Maintain that trench's depth. What happens now?
People say, "Why did they build a city where it could be flooded?" or "Why did you live below sea level?" We didnt' choose where the most important inland waterway in this hemisphere met the ocean. There is simply no way around that and anyone who says that the city shouldn't have been there is simply ignorant of the concept of an economy. Such individuals need to be left to their own idiocy.
But what we did choose is to let our own safety be compromised in the name of the economic development of this nation. And in the name of almighty oil. Sure, it was profitable, and sure, many of that city's very own turned a blind eye to the rising threat, in the name of the dollar. This nation built those trenches from the ocean to the castle, and it maintained them. The trenches caused the buffer zone around them to be washed away. The trenches streamlined movement from the ocean to that city in a way that benefitted ships, oil, and sadly, a hurricane.
But it happened and we are ALL to blame. Yes I said ALL. Anyone in Maine who has ever eaten a banana is to blame. Anyone in Chicago who enjoys coffee is to blame. Anyone in Denver who has bought a gallon of gas is to blame. Yes, some people were supposed to be on watch, but we are all to blame. And what's done is done. We can and we SHOULD rebuild it. The whole of this nation owes a debt of gratitude to that city for giving itself, literally, to the needs, both economic and aesthetic, of this country. I hope we at least chose to pay that city back for all it has given to us.
But now I live here in DC. Things happen. Lives change. This is where I am now and we'll see how it goes. At least I am alive.
So it says I live in D.C. That is a new development for me. You see, I had a house, a company, a family and a life in a great city in this country. The city was old and had been through a lot. America loved that city. It held its conferences there. It held its Super Bowls there. It looked to that city for escape and fun, culture and cuisine. And most importantly it looked to that city for utility. That city served this country in the most loyal way, through centuries, providing a nonstop, 24-7 stream of commerce. Every coffee bean in the U.S. went through that city. Every banana in this country went through that city. The Mississippi River, the most economically important inland waterway in the entire hemisphere, met the world's ocean system there. A huge percentage of the nation's domestic and foreign oil had something to do with that city and its immediate region.
But as usual, humankind managed to do what mother nature could not. For hundreds of years that city sat in the same place. It endured storms and plagues, disease and fire. But in the last thirty years, the nation needed more from that city than it was willing to give back. Canals and efficient waterways were constructed around the city to ease the flow of goods and oil. The human intervention in the geography of the area around that city, over the course of the last 30 years, led to a alteration of the area's natural defenses to storms, plagues, disease and fire. What used to be a buffer of 120 miles was depleated to 40 miles in some places.
It isn't hard to understand. Go to the beach. Build a sand castle 5 yards from the water. Watch the tide. Does the water affect your sandcastle? No, because you have 5 yards of buffer. Now dig a deep trench from the water to your sandcastle. Maintain that trench's depth. What happens now?
People say, "Why did they build a city where it could be flooded?" or "Why did you live below sea level?" We didnt' choose where the most important inland waterway in this hemisphere met the ocean. There is simply no way around that and anyone who says that the city shouldn't have been there is simply ignorant of the concept of an economy. Such individuals need to be left to their own idiocy.
But what we did choose is to let our own safety be compromised in the name of the economic development of this nation. And in the name of almighty oil. Sure, it was profitable, and sure, many of that city's very own turned a blind eye to the rising threat, in the name of the dollar. This nation built those trenches from the ocean to the castle, and it maintained them. The trenches caused the buffer zone around them to be washed away. The trenches streamlined movement from the ocean to that city in a way that benefitted ships, oil, and sadly, a hurricane.
But it happened and we are ALL to blame. Yes I said ALL. Anyone in Maine who has ever eaten a banana is to blame. Anyone in Chicago who enjoys coffee is to blame. Anyone in Denver who has bought a gallon of gas is to blame. Yes, some people were supposed to be on watch, but we are all to blame. And what's done is done. We can and we SHOULD rebuild it. The whole of this nation owes a debt of gratitude to that city for giving itself, literally, to the needs, both economic and aesthetic, of this country. I hope we at least chose to pay that city back for all it has given to us.
But now I live here in DC. Things happen. Lives change. This is where I am now and we'll see how it goes. At least I am alive.
posted by Chuck @ 10:26 PM
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