Denver blizzard email

[Wisha Haddan H3]

And here's my response:
______________

Living just outside of Denver, I saw the effects of the storm firsthand. People got stuck or snowed in and some died. There was a huge outpouring of help as neighbors shoveled each other out and worked together. It was a great thing to see.

But Denver?s reaction to a snowstorm is no excuse to call people below the 48th latitude a bunch of lazy freeloaders.

Our blizzard was hardly a disaster of biblical proportions. Not even close. I appreciate the message of communities taking care of themselves and each other ... but Colorado just got snowed in for a couple of days. Then our lives went back to normal. Katrina shut down much of the coast and destroyed New Orleans. Now that's a disaster of BIBLICAL proportions.

Oh and by the way, Colorado DID ask for federal assistance for parts of the state. We DID expect the government to plow, sand and salt the roads. We DID expect the city?s drainage to handle the snowmelt. And we DID expect the highways to stay open. And we depended on government services and infrastructure to work, just like everybody else.

Keep in mind...

The wind and snow didn't rip off our roofs or wash away our homes. Our living rooms, workplaces, grocery stores and gas stations were not swept away or filled with 6 feet of sludge. The financial system was not ruined because banks and ATMs were gone. Neighborhoods and suburbs were not leveled. Food and supplies were not spoiled or lost across half the state. Water, power, gas, sewer and trash were not interrupted - the buildings, pipes and subsystems clogged, destroyed or washed out to sea. Streets were not filled with sewage and the corpses of family, friends and pets. Phone, cable and power lines (and poles) were not cut, toppled or lost. Our historical sites, museums, art galleries and concert halls remain intact. Families were not separated. No one was drowned, burned, electrocuted or crushed in a collapse. Millions of people did not have to evacuate because there was NOWHERE TO LIVE.

Denver had it easy. Sure the commute home was long. Some people were stuck in traffic for 6 to 8 hours. But thanks to the snow crews, most of the major roads were drivable with 4x4 throughout the blizzard and the rest were open within 24 hours and drivable by any car within 48 hours. Only a few people died and most of those were from heart attacks while shoveling snow. Only a few pets died (because stupid people didn't bring them inside), only a few were lost, and none had to be abandoned in a mass evacuation. Rural areas and mountain towns were hit harder than Denver, but in most parts the snow melted and the roads were mostly cleared within a few days or a week.

New Orleans was practically leveled. To get the same kind of damage in Denver and the rest of Colorado, you would have to set fire to the entire city and over half the state, blow up all the utilities, gas stations and water & gas mains, and then cover the whole thing with standing water, mud and sewage 3-6 feet deep. Then try and evacuate hundreds of thousands of people in boats to high ground while you clear the evacuation routes of trees brush and mud so you can drive HUNDREDS of miles more to safety.

I don't condone crime, looting, con artists or freeloading. But that's not the same as asking for help when everything you know and the entire infrastructure you depend on has been destroyed. Is it any wonder they asked the government for assistance and complained when it was provided too little, too late, and after many were abandoned by their insurance companies?

If we are so obsessed with helping each other in local communities, why can't we tolerate helping within our national community?

I hope you forward this message from me to everyone who received the previous email. There is already too much intolerance and selfishness in the world to promote this kind of bigotry and ignorance.