by C L Smith

Created on: June 17, 2009

Last night could literally have been my rush to judgment. Tornadoes were touching down within a 5 mile radius of my home in North Texas. As a result, in perfect rhythm with the severe weather sirens that were blasting in the background, I found myself rushing toward the safe room in the center of the house. Simultaneously, I reached back in my memory stores to retrieve the tape that would reference the appropriate procedures that would ensure my survival during this severe weather event.

As I was en-route to the safe room, I clicked down the mental disaster preparedness checklist only to find that a sub-topic pertaining to "Valuables to Take with You to the Safe Room" did not exist. I thought to myself, "WhatulIdo"? How would I determine what item should accompany me to the safe area to ensure that it, as well as I, survived the imminent disaster? What item had I acquired was worthy of nestling up with me in the bathtub under the mound of pillows and comforters that would be our home for the duration of the storm? What item could I hopefully live with but absolutely not live without? For what item should I offer protection as, hopefully, the wrath of Mother Nature passed from my home and valuables and on toward some other equally unprepared victim?

As I lay cocooned in the tub, sans valuable item, it dawned on me that not one material thing immediately sprang to mind as I pondered the grab-no-grab decision. Unlike persons waiting to board a life boat of limited size who are able to immediately determine who will live and who will die, I was unable to come to a conclusion as to what material thing would live and what other items must be sacrificed in order for the most fit to be saved.

Of perhaps greater consequence is the recognition that my home is packed to the brim with material items. And worse, I must have considered these items to have been of sufficient physical and emotional value to commit my hard earned dollars to the acquisition of same. We won't even think about the associated opportunity costs. And yet, with tornado clouds and lightning in sight, I was not drawn to even one of these items to a sufficient degree to grant it shelter from the storm. Not one item was identified to be of such value, that if lost forever, would impose a sufficient hardship as to warrant my risking life and limb to ensure that both it and I had the equal opportunity of survival.

As Mother Nature would have it, both I and all the material items that I apparently consider to be of fairly inconsequential value (if evidenced by my actions last night) survived the storm. Not unexpectedly, the material items don't appear to have been emotionally enriched in any way by the occurrences of the storm. However, I believe my perceptions are greatly changed in terms of my evaluation of what is significant in my life. More importantly, I believe I am better able to recognize what is worthy of my efforts. It is my great hope that this doomsday experience will remain with me as I am tempted to invest even more of my assets in material possessions that must fend for themselves in times of crises. In the best of all worlds, this experience will ensure that I will allot much more time and many more resources to the creation of memories that will accompany me to my safe room the next time the severe weather alarm tolls for me.

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