I remember Hurricane Katrina.

Fortunately, I remembered it from a distance sitting in a New York City office with my eyes
glued to the lobby TV. I felt sick and powerless. Less than four years earlier, I called New Orleans home for a summer. My counted blessings were all the (lifelong) friendships I developed and the special relationship I had with the NO. All I could think about were my friends and their families. I thought about Xavier University, I thought about Painters Street, I thought about every individual I came across and the spirit of love I experienced there. I thought about how fortunate I and many of us in the Northeast were for being spared that time around.

Fast forward to this weekend, I find myself sitting in a room halfway across the world in India, closely monitoring my twitter feed of friends and family, refreshing US weather and news sites and reviewing Weather HD on my iPad, I felt the same sense of powerlessness. My skype account was in full use as I kept the phone ringing trying to ensure my family and friends were well.

Early on, I realized in more ways than one, we were well prepared. I was refreshed by the
live around the clock twitter updates of Mayor Cory Booker about efforts to address Newark’s needs in the midst of the storm. I was refreshed by NYC’s proactive closings and the many who actually took heed of the lessons of years past. Unfortunately, my sentiment was short-lived.

As Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm, I equally saw a storm of comments across every social media platform of “disappointment” about the weakness of the storm and how let down many felt. In parallel, I read the story of the 12 deaths, the one lady who called but passed in her car, the elderly up all night pumping water from their basement, with buckets to limit the damage of ceiling leaks, the nearly half million in NC without power and additional 100K in the DMV, and all of this…and counting….

I was surprised because one would think there would be a sense of relief, attributed to the storm not wielding the full weight of its impact. Are we not grateful? Was the cresting of the Hudson not enough? Did we lose our free sleepover at the newly built Giants stadium? Did we miss out on the fun that many kicked off on Friday night. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed with the arrogant “that’s it” that pervaded the social media landscape. Worse, I felt embarrassed.

But let’s be fair, I realize that my visceral reaction was due to my feeling of closeness to the city and the people who were affected by Katrina. I also admit, my feeling of relief was largely driven by my knowing many people in high risk areas, namely my family, who could have seen a different outcome if this storm spent more time in the area.

Still, I can’t help but sit with some alarm about the many lessons it’s evident we did not learn. One of which is sensitivity and a bit of compassion for those who actually were affected by it in a real way. If that was our grandmother who died in South Jersey, how disappointed would we have been with the overall impact of the storm?

I don’t think this means those who were let down take life for granted but I do think there is a difference between not taking life for granted and proactively cherishing the life you are granted.

If there’s one thing you can be sure of your life can change in the blink of an eye…we’re lucky for most it wasn’t in the eye of a storm.