Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Hurricane Sandy

As a New Jersey resident, I was (like millions of others) affected by Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall in the Garden State a year ago yesterday.

But that which I experienced was minimal. I was, for example, without power for a couple of days. There were shortages of gasoline, for a time. After the supermarket near my apartment reopened--I cannot recall how long it was closed; probably a day or two--there were certain relatively minor food shortages, for a period.

To emphasize this: what I encountered, a year ago (as disorienting as parts of the experience may have felt), was simply nothing--just nothing--when compared to the ways in which the storm disrupted and changed the lives of so many others.

I am thinking, this week, about the families and individuals who endured so much, last year--and about those whose lives, today, continue to be so profoundly altered by the storm.