america the plentiful

The other day, Joni asked if I would make her my special sandwich, a concoction I learned from an old girl friend's mother. It consists of english muffins, paper thin slices of ham (which are easily purchased these days courtesy of Hillshire Farms), tomatoes, and paper thin slices of onion topped with muenster cheese (don't forget the butter and mayo) melted in the broiler. When I ran down to the local supermarket to purchase the requisite ingredients, I was very annoyed to find that there was a sale on Wonder Bread traditional english muffins, resulting in an empty shelf of my preferred sandwich substrate (a word utilized to excess by my daughter's former and annoying boy friend). I was thus forced to purchase the Sara Lee english muffins that were on the shelf below in ample supply. If you're like me (and I know you are), you've come to develop deeply ingrained loyalties to specific products. As an example, Best Foods mayonnaise is the only brand of mayonnaise worth purchasing. Likewise Heinz ketchup (although over the years I swear it has become more watery).

(Several years ago when the Lost Boys were brought to the United States to allow them the opportunity to literally "live" they were overwhelmed by many aspects of our vastly different lifestyle. Upon visiting a supermarket for the first time, one of them commented in exasperation, "Why do you have so many varieties of the same thing?" He could not fathom from his experience, how we could possibly have so many choices of so many products when he was just thankful to eat anything each day.) His frame of reference could not embrace our overabundant and market-driven economy.

I was immediately reminded (all this from the outage of Wonder Bread english muffins) of how blessed we truly are. I find annoyance at not being able to purchase my preferred english muffin (in itself a luxury item, really) when people are starving in the world. Yes, yes, I know this is not a profound revelation, but a certain dose of reality, guilt and awareness is always an important thing to carry if we are to remember our humanity and to motivate us to do something, anything to contribute to alleviating the suffering of the world. I suppose this is why so many Americans have contributed to many of the funds to help re-build the devastation of the recent catastrophes in Haiti, the flooding in Pakistan, and in our own backyard (some years ago now) of New Orleans.

Several (actually, now many) years ago, when we lived in Connecticut, there was a threat of a bad Nor'Easter. The news outlets warned residents to stock up on vital supplies as we might be stranded in our homes for several days. Since we were new to such things, we were immediately overcome with fear and uncertainty and dutifully drove to our local supermarket. The scene there only contributed to our now mounting terror as people were frantically running to and fro, shopping carts in tow as they emptied the remaining stock of groceries on the picked over shelves. It looked like the store had gone out of business long ago and somebody had forgotten to remove a few items here and there as they packed up. We managed to cobble together some essentials from what remained (as well as from other stores we visited by way of preparation). Luckily, as things turned out, the cold front took a last-minute turn away from us and the dreaded Nor-Easter never arrived.

It did leave an indelible mark on my psyche however. It taught me that we should not necessarily take for granted those things that we have accepted as "givens" in our life. Store stocks are replenished weekly, with items brought out daily from their storage space in the back when necessary. But, in the event that distribution is disrupted due to a force majeure event, it is easy to see from my experience in Connecticut that a supermarket can be depleted of its stock in just one day. I cannot convey how vulnerable I felt that day in the Stop and Shop with all of those empty shelves. Similarly, a few years ago, we suffered a power outage here in Salt Lake City in the dead of winter that knocked out our electricity for five days. It was almost incomprehensible to us to imagine that we would be without power for that long. It was the reason we remained in our home for three days before moving in with my parents. We thought the infrastructure of the power company was such that it would rally to restore power in a timely fashion as it always had.

No wonder then, that residents in New Orleans were bewildered by the lack of support and rescue they received during their catastrophe. My own brother-in-law, a doctor at the Tulane Hospital was caught in the chaos. He brought his family to the hospital, figuring there were generators and supplies available to help them be comfortable and cared for during the interim until rescue arrived. Sadly, rescue only came after days of fear and danger. An armed gang tried to storm the hospital for its coffer of drugs. Shots were fired. My brother-in-law called his father at one point, the only time he ever betrayed fear and panic, pleading to be rescued somehow. One family member tried to purchase the services of mercenaries ($50,000) to stage a rescue attempt. During the negotiation process, helicopters from the National Guard ultimately landed (after taking direct fire from the armed gang below and firing back, thereby repelling them). Patients and the remaining hospital staff (my brother-in-law and his family included) where ultimately rescued intact.

So what is the take-away from all of this? I'm not sure. I would recommend a 72-hour survival pack for each member of your family, hopefully portable enough to take with you. Keep the essentials of food and water in your home; flashlights, a radio, a supply of batteries, some essential toiletries. I know some of you are much better prepared than I am and already have these in your possession. I applaud you for this. For those of you who may not have yet considered this, I urge you to invest some time and thought into getting this done. We are truly blessed to be living in this wonderful country, but although it is America the plentiful, it is important to be aware of contingencies should something happen.

And oh, yeah, contribute some of your earnings to a charitable cause, or better yet, donate some of your time in the service of your community.