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LRTs: My family and I lost everything in Hurricane Hortense in Puerto Rico. I was 8. I got out on a kayak out of our house, while my father held our dog by her front paws to get her out too, and my mother held my school uniform and what few important documents she could get above her head.

After a few days, we went back home to check the aftermath. All of my toys, my anime collection, everything that had been my life up until that year was covered in mud and muck, wet beyond compare. Obviously I had priorities as a little girl lol. A good chunk of precious old photos got ruined, including those of my parents' childhoods. And much more. I don't even remember how long it took to clean everything up or to save what we could.

One of the strongest memories I have is sitting out front with my third sister (long story) and her husband, cleaning my My Little Pony toys caked with mud, while our neighbors got new furniture and everything else new brought to them by the government. They were poor, so they were able to have that. Our family was middle class, so it meant we were not eligible for any help at all. "You can afford it", after all.

I don't mean that to say "ew poor people always get everything for free", especially when both my parents grew up poor and they also barely got gov help. I only point out a fact that happened. I understand as an adult better why that happened, because we *should* help the poor. But I still wish we had that help too, right? I feel that's normal. (My mother has a more averse reaction when she remembers. Depending on when, she ends up crying.)

BTW my mother saved my school uniform because she understood a thing that I did as an adult: nobody cares if you lost stuff, you still have to go to school. And I did. At the time and now I'm easily adaptable, so I didn't think it weird that I went to school while also having to help clean my house. (Both private and public schools have uniforms in Puerto Rico, for the record.)

What really stuck in my mind after everything went back to normal, is that Hortense became a footnote. Hurricane George did more severe damage, so that's the one folks would remember and mention more (until Maria, of course.) From 8 until 17, I've only met ONE person who remembered how bad Hortense was.

I had a deeper point but I lost it. Basically: all the above I dumped because while I don't think you need to go through a hurricane to understand why it's pretty inhumane to shit on people in poorer areas or conservative areas or whatever else you deem evil/wrong/bad/what have you, I actually do hope you never have to go through the suffering and toll it takes on you and your family in ways that it will never live you. Natural disasters DO change people. Whether you like it or not.

And honestly, maybe some people do need to go through a natural disaster to understand. Maybe you'll see then.

Or maybe you still wouldn't care because you're just a demon who revels in suffering. Who knows.

:heiterdrink:

@naan What an awful thing to go through as an 8 year old:( Sorry you had to deal with all that. Couldn’t have been easy.

As far as the government help goes, we should help those that most need it. But those hard cut offs are just cruel. It means someone who happens to have marginally more get screwed over, which isn’t right either. They can end up with even less than the poor that way.

Imho a “sliding scale” if you will, would be more fair. To lift up everyone to the same level if that makes sense. Disasters like this hits damn hard for anyone who isn’t crazy rich. (Hope the explaination makes sense!)

Didn’t grow up with natural disasters so they truly terrify me. Feel bad for anyone affected.

Take care!