https://youtube/watch?v=QqMe-LNgwgU These are my thoughts that I have been needing to share, take from them what you want, or nothing at all, it’s just what I need to express to move on. My only hope is to shed light on a tragedy that has remained hidden. It’s been 7 days since Hurricane Odile hit and destroyed Los Cabos. As I watch this video above, I begin to understand a few things more and more. I have always been a person to question authority and everything I see, read and experience. I must be missing the gene that makes a person believe in god, follow the flock, listen to our leaders and submit to authority. In a lot of ways right now, I wish I had that gene so I could find some relief for natural disasters and accept what has happened as “there is a reason for everything”. Instead, it reaffirms my conviction that nothing happens for a reason and that random events are what shape us. It’s what we learn from them that give us our moral compass. Being in a situation where I had to face the possibility of death has not reaffirmed a belief in a higher power for me, but it has most certainly re-calibrated my moral and ethical direction. My life has always been filled with empathy, compassion and caring for living creatures, but this has just given it a new perspective. For me, a lack of faith in something “more powerful than I” does not reduce my morality, I know now it builds it. I have been waiting for the mainstream media to pick up on the severity of this dire situation in Mexico and it’s just not happening. In Canada there are mentions here and there about it, but most people here have no idea what has actually happened down there. In Canada we are inundated daily by American media and it’s been interesting to see that even less has been reported, especially on CNN. I can thank them, however, for letting me know that Miley has been up to some serious twerking this week and that there is a new “skinny pizza” to help me lose weight. I see now, more clearly than at any point in my life, we seriously need to question all media and authority. By not reporting the deaths that have occurred, or the devastation and rebuilding that needs to be done is tragic. These are our neighbors who are part of North America (many don’t even know this) and with whom we heavily trade and rely on, never mind that for so many Canadians, feel a kinship with. Most of all, they are humans in need. I am not lessoning the experiences and tragedies all over the world that are occurring, but I am questioning the information that we are continually spoon-fed about them. We are only given one side, the side we are told to buy into. We are not there, so how can we really know about Africa and the Middle East? I was in Mexico and lived through a natural disaster, understand it deeply and yet if I were to rely on our media, I would remain oblivious. Looking at any headline, you can pretty much reduce them to two things: What to fear, and what to buy. I am not talking about purchases, I am talking about what we are being manipulated into fearing and accepting as truth. It’s in this way I see similarities between our flow of information to that of the styles employed by so many close-minded and oppressive governments. Their people often do not know the truth in the world just like I know now for sure that we don’t either. Truth is totally separate from reality. Everyone’s reality is different, but truth is the same for all of us weather we know it or not. During the 17 hours in the shelter, there were about 3 solid hours where for me, the fear turned guttural. While not outwardly terrified, inside I was in a state of shock with a white hot and blinding terror that if I made the wrong decision, my partner and I could possibly die. It felt like a dream, I was so far from home and in a situation that was so far from my reality that it forever altered my perception of life. We had to flee our shelter when the roof collapsed which (unbeknownst to us until later) was torn to shreds. In another other room, water started coming in from the roof and the walls. We didn’t know where to go, or what to do. All we knew was that above us, everything was being destroyed. We were surrounded by the sound of a thousand howling wolves, flying and crashing trees, tiles, roofs collapsing, doors crashing, people crying, fainting, the heat increasing, people needing to escape to get air. It all made me truly understand what it might be like to die, truly die. Later on we would learn that trees were plucked from the ground like hairs. I was with my partner in a room of 300 other people and even then, in the face of uncertainty, we understood we could still not show affection for each other, when more so than at any time in our 17 years together, we needed to. In my most terrified moment, I pulled out my phone and in the notes wrote “Love” and showed it to him because if anything were to happen, that is the only thing that mattered. It’s amazing what you are willing to leave behind, (money, clothes, belongings) in the face of a disaster. All that mattered to me was love and survival. The nights that followed were just as terrifying for me. While our resort had the best survival plan in check out of any of them, it was still life altering. At night, we had to turn off the generators to save power. Food was scheduled at certain times and running water was kept to 3 times a day. They had food and water for us, but all I could think about was looters. We kept our bottled water in the safe, because all that mattered again, was love and survival and now, water. The first night, in the oppressive heat and wet room, we had to sleep with the door open for air. I was awoken by the sound of a dying cat, screaming all night in agony. Hours and hours I stared into darkness until it just stopped. 3 days later, we were presented with a situation where we had to decide to chance it by going to the airport. The roads had opened up enough to let people go, but there was no electricity, no communication, no means of knowing what was at the airport for us,. All we knew, was that military planes were coming and going. We began counting how many were arriving and departing and cross referencing that with how many people we guessed were stranded and what our chances might be to get out. The days were filled with counting water bottles and military planes. The reality was that we could stay at the resort, but with a certainty of running out of food and water. We weighed the risks and decided to chance it at the airport with thousands of people, the possibility of being trapped in the sun (the terminal was destroyed, there was no shelter there) and no promises of actual escape,. And escape it was because we were told our only goal was to get out of Cabo. It didn’t matter where we ended up, but we just had to get out. In the words of the staff, the town was gone, wiped of the map. This was apparent upon leaving the resort. It was destroyed. It looked like a film set of the end of the world, except you never drove out of it, it just kept going and going. I am haunted by a dying horse, splattered in mud, skinny, dying and baking in the sun. No water, no food, just waiting. The airport was most certainly obliterated and we were with thousands. When we arrived, we were told we were not getting out that day. Thank goodness the resort gave us water, a sandwich and their umbrellas to shade us from the scorching heat. It turns out, we did get to leave a few hours later. We were evacuated in a military plane for a 28 hour journey home via Guadalajara and Los Angeles. Looking back, I know we were much safer than most, and I am in a fortunate position to know that much of the fear I felt was from just being thrown into the unknowable. What I learned about myself was how strong I am. During the panic, my brain was firing like a piston and I took charge of Scott and I. The roof collapsing was the moment I knew that nothing but my wits was going to save us. I was looking at all angles, all opportunities. I knew there was concrete below because we had dinner in the staff area. I took note of concrete walls and ceilings. I took note of what glass to stay away from (even below, the glass windows were shaking from the movement of the building) I knew we had to get against the concrete wall. I knew once the water was flooding from above through vents and lights and beside us (walls were bending and splitting from the pressure) that we had to get under a beam and stay away from all glass. It wasn’t a higher power guiding me, it was my wits and the built in need to live that kicked in and kept us moving. I had never met that side of myself before, it is nice to now its in there. I am not sure what I am going to do with my newfound perspective, but I aim to do good with it. I do know, that from here on out, I am officially going to stop looking to media, news, society or anything outside of myself for that matter for any kind of validation, truth, honesty, perspective or reliability.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 20:00:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015