Reading "Lightning Fall: A Novel of Disaster"

I’m only a short way into the book (maybe 1/5), and it’s hard to put down. One of the characters, Tom, a gay man on the Left Coast, is contemplating how he might handle the problem of fending off others, who’ve not prepared for disasters (any disaster). He is, reluctantly considering that it may come to his and his partner’s life vs. others.

That’s a hard line for most of us to draw. We are raised to think that extending a hand out to those in need is a priority. Most of us have never been in a situation that is either them, or us. No wiggle room.

The thing is, we may be torn by the conflict between providing food, shelter, and water to people who COULD have stored up such provisions for themselves - but did not.

They are the Grasshoppers. Time and again, they mooch off the Ants when in extremis.

Now, there are time, and people, who DO need some help, but have not shirked their responsibility to provide. Those who have been in a sudden disaster, been forced off their land, or who have otherwise not truly been capable of storing up necessities.

They are few.

Many are the chronic layabouts, those accustomed to seeking, and obtaining, assistance from taxpayer-provided relief or charitable offerings. Too many of them, even after surviving a crisis, will take a lesson, and begin prepping against the next disaster.

Some do manage to save and prep, only to fall prey to others in their family, who come in like locusts to devour all that is available (and, often, to berate the provident for not having more or a sufficient variety of consumables). They cannot bring themselves to shut the door on relations that will drag them down with them.

Some, given a sudden windfall, indulge themselves in an orgy of frivolous spending - Big TVs, a leased car (nothing but the BEST!), or new clothes. For them, I have little to say other than “Don’t bother coming to MY door”.

I’m heartened by the surveys that have found that MANY of those who received Covid money used it to pay down bills, start a ‘just-in-case’ pantry, or just save for the future. The combination of extra leisure time, which many used to inform themselves about the how-tos of gardening, resource management, and paying down their debt, plus the scary lessons of goods not available for extended time periods, may have brought some much needed awakening to the people.

It may be a cultural shift, but women - average women, not the ones that pose with duck lips and bling - have undergone a major change. Most of the women I see on social media are bragging about their use of gardening and food preservation, showing off their latest sewing project, or otherwise living a life closer to that of their grandmothers (or great-grandmothers!).

I hope so. I do believe we haven’t seen the bottom of this economy yet. Not even close.