cold

Prepping For Chaos

Overnight rain greatly diminished the amount of snow coverage that has lingered over the past two weeks, but more snow is falling now (7:30 AM EST), and anything still liquid will start freezing soon as temperatures drop quickly. Of course, the kids and I are home for the day so there’s no worry there. Kat’s books are full, though, which could make her trip to Fishers a little treacherous this evening.

I feel as though I need to continuously remind people that driving on ice is not the same as driving on snow, even if you have snow tires. In fact, those studded snow tires make driving on ice all the more difficult. To drive on ice, one needs chains, and chains, by their nature, require driving slowly. Even with chains, however, sliding can occur, and stopping is difficult. One is far safer staying put someplace warm if at all possible.

Cold weather is especially challenging for unhoused people. Finding someplace safe and warm can be difficult. So, I was initially encouraged when local NBC affiliate WTHR posted a list of warming centers for Central Indiana. Then, I took a look at the list. Almost all of them are closed on Sunday and many are closed Monday as well, when temps are below 0F! Is a warming center still a warming center if it’s closed? In my mind, this is an excellent opportunity for houses of worship to open and welcome strangers from the cold. After all, that’s what their deities have instructed them to do. If any are doing that, though, they’re keeping that status secret. There are no worship facilities on the list of warming centers.

The situation for unhoused people is made increasingly difficult as many lack transportation as well. If we get as much as a quarter of an inch of ice on the roads, you don’t want to be on a city bus, either. This makes the need for frequent warming centers all the more critical. The community is better served by having many places helping a few people rather than fewer more disparate places trying to cram in as many as possible.

I don’t understand why more places aren’t opening their doors. This ‘not my problem’ attitude is contrary to how I was raised. Ice was an annual issue in Eastern Oklahoma. Tree limbs became brittle as ice accumulated on them, causing them to fall onto power lines. Power lines often snapped on their own if ice accumulated more than half an inch. The instant power started going out anywhere, my father was on the phone checking on people.

Homelessness wasn’t much of an issue in our small towns, but the number of elderly in houses with little or no insulation was a constant concern. Poppa saw it as part of his job as a pastor to proactively find those without power and get them somewhere safe. Usually, a nearby neighbor was happy to take someone in. If the storm was severe enough to make safe places scarce, Mother would start pulling out the dozens of blankets we kept on hand and make pallets across the floors. It was unconscionable to even consider knowingly leaving someone in the cold.

Now, once one starts mentioning taking care of people, politicians start talking about budgets and how cities don’t have the money to help. Excuse me, how much does it cost to simply unlock the damn doors? The Colts aren’t playing, so why isn’t Lucas Oil Stadium available? How much of the convention center is being used? People who are on the verge of freezing to death aren’t going to complain about the availability of a blanket on the floor of the city/county building or a school gym. There is not a city anywhere in the United States that does not have overwhelming options for keeping people warm. That anyone is at risk of freezing to death is inexcusable.

Compassion is not a weakness. Compassion is a muscle that needs frequent exercise for people to see its strength. There is strength in caring about people you don’t know. Helping those who struggle without expecting anything in return is a major flex. We have allowed lazy fools to control the narrative of being neighborly, helping other people, and caring about those at risk. There are no strong communities, there are no thriving cities where compassion is not at the core of their being.

Capitalism is an enemy here. If one is looking to find profit in helping people, that one is not compassionate but rather greedy. One of the issues plaguing LA in the wake of unfathomable destruction is that too many property owners have raised prices so severely that only the rich can afford safety. There is zero compassion when one attaches a price tag to keeping people alive and well. If we cannot set profit aside to help people in need, we are undeserving of any profit at all.

Chaos is coming. We know this because we’ve been through it before. This time, it comes at us with the forceful support of dozens of billionaires who mistakenly think they have the right to tell any of us what to do. They’re screaming, “We have a mandate!” when all they actually have is a gilded microphone. There is no mandate that does not involve compassion and without compassion, there is no true power to govern.

We can say ‘No.’ We must say ‘No.’ We have a moral obligation as humans to say ‘No’ to all the chaos, all the inhumanity, all the profiteering, all the greed, and all the corruption of the incoming administration. Remember, at all times, that there is no government without the consent of the governed. You are not required to consent. You have every right to dissent and the strongest dissent comes through action, not posting memes on social media.

Dissent. Help someone in need. It really is that easy.