The images that have been coming out of Japan over the past few days are beyond horrifying and frightening and they are serving as quite the wake-up call to me in more ways than one.
The first thing I keep thinking about are my children. I can't imagine being in that situation (and I hope I never have to) and feeling the panic that the Japanese people felt that day....especially those with young children. I would do anything to protect my babies and the thought of them in harms way or suffering in any way absolutely rips me to pieces. What would I do? How would I respond? I would hope that God would grant me serenity and calmness to know what to do. And then I begin thinking, "Well, how prepared am I?" I look across the street at a wide open and beautiful field. I am not surrounded by water, tall skyscrapers, or millions of people, and I am so thankful for that. I do feel as though living out in the country makes me a tad safer and the thought of living in a close city terrifies me. BUT, with the power plant not far from here, I've started thinking about what I can do and what I will start to do to make sure my family is as safe as possible in case of a catastrophe. Here are some of my ideas...
1. I need to be better about keeping my car at least half full of gas---extremely hard to do these days with the way gas prices are, but necessary nonetheless. If something were to happen, God forbid, I'm sure I'd be hell bent to find a gas station that I could get in and out of quickly.
2. I'm considering putting together a duffle bag of clothing with one pair of pjs and one pair of regular clothes for my children and me and Stephen as well. I just bought a case of water at Target the other day, and I haven't taken it out of my car. I think I'll keep it there actually. In addition to clothes, I will probably pack a few small toys or familiar things that my kids can take with them.
3. I had actually considered getting my entire family, passports. Although, my husband is probably right in saying that if we ever need to flee this country then we may as well forget about it all.
4. I'm really bad about keeping cash on me. I normally ALWAYS use my debit card. Just like the gas stations though, ATMs and banks would probably be closed or not working more than likely.
5. A long time ago, I started sleeping with three things beside me (not just the baby monitor); my car keys, my purse, and my cell phone (charging). If I needed to make a run for it, for any reason, these 3 things are of the utmost importance.
6. Lastly, I need to have a plan. Even though I cannot wait to go back to teaching, times like these make me thankful that I am at home with my babies and know that they are with me a majority of the time. Stephen of course is at work so it would probably be a good idea to formulate a play where I could meet him. If he's at the shop, we can meet up at the house but he's normally not there so we need to think of a place where we could meet and take off.
In addition, to all of this "disaster-preparedness" I've also been thinking even deeper. You know, I've always been taught to believe that God doesn't MAKE things happen; He ALLOWS them to happen. Then again, that would totally contradict the whole "destroying the world by flood" thing too. Anyway, I'm not gloom and doom but I really do believe that events such as what has happened in Japan are a big wake-up call for all of us and perhaps even a nudge from the Big Man. I do believe that natural disasters and events such as these are a result of sin in the world. I'm not sure of the exact correlation but that is what I believe....and if I think about it hard enough, it scares me. Honestly, I'm very thankful and more motivated now than ever to make sure I attend mass every weekend, stick to my sacraments, and live my life as a good person. Will I have my days? OF COURSE! But, I'm going to try. Especially during this season of Lent, I'm trying to readjust some things and change my life around a bit.
So, let me apologize in advance if this blog was a bit Debbie Downer-ish to you, but it's been weighing on my mind. Who knows? Maybe it's been on yours too.
1 comment:
About the only thing I have to worry about here are tornadoes. When the watches start, I'll put my purse, cell, a couple pillows and blanket, shoes, and diaper/wipes in the downstairs bathroom. I don't tell my kids anything but just get ready to throw them in.
So I think about it too, although probably not nearly as much as you!
Post a Comment