It’s midnight and sleep is just a pipe dream at this point. Houston is being pounded into the ground and there isn’t a damn thing to be done about it.
Meanwhile, life goes on. The odd prayer is flung into the void, and then everyone is back to posting pictures of what they had for dinner; another post about who went to the gym and what times they posted, as if anyone really gives a shit; another cute picture of a dwarf pygmy goat bunny unicorn; and another request of ‘if you’re really my friend, you’ll share this.’
Sure, donate to this, that and the other charity to help Texas, but it doesn’t all go to aid, does it? Nope. Charity CEO’s are pulling in 6 & 7 figure salaries with all the bells and whistles when people are up to their eyeballs in flood water. Yes, there are charities out there helping, but how much more could be done if cash wasn’t being siphoned off to hefty corporate salaries? Yes, people need to be paid, but if you’re a charity, then maybe a bit more giving and a little less taking? No?
People are suffering, clinging onto what’s left of their homes, barely sleeping or eating because every iota of energy is going into surviving the carnage and for the rest of the world, this is just a blip on their social media feed. Sure, a like here, sad face there, offer a prayer up somewhere else, and then it’s back to scrolling through duck pictures and getting into meaningless arguments with people they’ve never met about stuff that probably doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things and posting supposedly funny memes about the devastation. Have a fucking heart! This isn’t some funny meme. People have died. There are probably some who won’t see another sunrise. Others have lost everything. How many won’t have habitable homes for months to come, while still trying to find a way to get to their jobs and keep life moving forward while their sanity circles the drain.
Every day people are opening their homes to people in need, sharing what little they have with strangers, while corporate greed just marches on uninterrupted with token gestures of sympathy. Human spirit will always win in the end. Greed be damned.
Sitting comfortably thousands of miles away from people who matter has never felt more bleak than it does tonight. There’s nothing to be said or done that can ease their burden in this moment. Being in a comfy bed with nothing to stress about feels heartless when so many are literally struggling to stay afloat at Nature’s whim with no idea where they’ll be sleeping in the days and weeks to come.
Tia, hang in there. This will end. It has to. And at some point, all will be normal again. I only wish that point was tonight and this was all over. They make ’em tough in Texas. xx
Izzy, it’s Friday and I just read this. It made me cry. Sorry you were suffering the anxiety almost as much as I was here in the center of a watery hell. Thanks for the support you offered from a distance through all of this. I didn’t feel so alone. I hope to never have to go through this again. On behalf of my fellow Houstonians (or Waterloggedonians as I now call us). it means a lot that people are concerned. The sun has been shining for a few days and the normal routine is coming back slowly- now if only my grocery store had milk!!! The wheel will keep on rolling. Yep, we’re tough in Texas even if some of us are from Illinois. A big hug !!