A lot has happened. A lot. You think time moves so slowly and gradually, but when you look at the scale of things and the line from Point A to Point B... it's like looking at a puddle and then looking at the ocean.
First was the job. I try hard at everything I do, I give my all, I dedicate myself to a cause and to doing it right. Never quit, keep trying and working until you get is flawless and correct. Didn't work. No matter what i tried, no matter what I did, it wasn't good enough, it wasn't right, and that was it. It just makes me wonder two things: 1. If ANYONE would be able to do it right according to the standards set forth, and 2. If he himself could live up to his own standards in similar conditions. Yes, I'm upset, but it just makes you think. When I was a boss, running things and setting things as I saw fit and I felt most efficient, I told everyone who worked with me and for me that I would never ask someone to do something I myself would not do. It's a different situation when someone who has been entrenched at a job for almost four decades and who has almost no communication skills expects you to do something without a given reason and without explanation. I was told to emulate and imitate him, but without know the WHY behind the WHAT, it's difficult to do.So, here I find myself for the second time in two years, once again on the hunt in a forest where game is scarce.
Next came the storm. Years ago, the Gulf region was devastated by Katrina. To this day, there is still strewn wreckage, missing people, and broken dreams still being repaired. Our home felt this impact this past week. The greatest city in the world was battered and beaten, a waterlogged wreck. The news pictures looked like something out of a Michael Bay movie, and for many of us it was hard to believe it was real. Further south, New Jersey was slammed like a rape victim and left in ruin. Like Katrina in the Gulf, Sandy will leave a permanent scar on New England and the mid-Atlantic states. People returning home to find it is gone. Landmarks and memories swept away or broken to splinters. Yes, we can rebuild, but some things can never be replaced, or even substituted.
Driving from East Haven to Milford you can see a handful of the effects. Piles of sand pushed against beach guardrails as a precaution did little, as the beach extends for a quarter mile uphill into the residential area. Telephone poles broken in half resting on their dead wires, trees torn by the very roots like giant weeds. On the West Haven/Milford line, you could see the waterlines on the front of homes and the deep gouges that were once driveways. Trees resting against roofs, home accessories that hadn't been tied down or brought in strewn around like children's toys. Down into Woodmont, were seawater still sat across the road several feet deep. Fences twisted and flattened, roofs lifted, sheds battered. One thing to remember: we're all "someone else" to someone else.
I lost a few things these past couple weeks, but not as much as others around the region did. Some neighbors are still without power, without water, without fuel. Sometimes, it's easy to forget or take for granted what we have. I've said it before, but it's sad that sometimes it takes something horrible to make us realize what we DO have and how fortunate we truly are. Until you experience disaster and loss yourself, you never truly understand. It's the nature of things. I wish it weren't so, but it is. Thanksgiving is coming, you know. This year, i think it bears some real consideration and real thought as to what it means.
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