In A Crisis

For John, BLUF:  In a crisis your fellow Lowellians will come through for you.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

A friend of mine from Florida sent along this item about how people react in a disaster (or crisis, if you prefer).  The author, Ms Kathy Waldman, gives us "The Civilizing Power of Disaster:  Where was all the chaos, looting, and mass-panic during Hurricane Sandy?"

The point of the article is that people pull together in a crisis and we respond to "the better angels of our nature", as Abraham Lincoln would have it.

And, this raises a question about our vocabulary.  Should we not stop referring to police, EMTs and firemen as "First Responders" and acknowledge that we are our own "First Responders".  The bigger the crisis the more we are on our own.  This is not to denigrate the heroes who are our police, EMTs and Firemen.  They are splendid, but they are not ubiquitous.

We are our own First Responders.

Regards  —  Cliff