Every morning I that I wake up after the hurricane I think that this nightmare is over and life will be back to normal. Its a real real allusion. Here in Midwood it just looks like a bad thunderstorm with some downed trees and power lines to be fixed. You don't see any toxic puddles like the ones New Yorkers are supposed to not step in. The ground is dry and has been . It really didn't rain much here in Midwood.  After 9/11 I kind of felt this way as well. I kept thinking that I was going to wake up the next day and the world trade center was going to still be there. 9/11 was worse. I was much more shaken up.
     After that first tsunami hit Thailand in 2004 which was  only 3 years after 9/11, it seems these "natural disasters" or acts of G-d had begun. At the time part of what disturbed me was that it was a catastrophe that was not man made. Somehow with terrorism I tend to blame the terrorists and not G-d. With a "natural" disaster it makes me more likely to feel like it is completely out of the hands of people and that it was caused by G-d. I suppose terrorism is from G-d as well but it is not as direct as a tsunami , hurricane or earthquake.
     Being the pessimist that I am it didn't surprise me that a "natural" disaster would occur in New York. Of course I didn't believe the prediction of hurricane sandy, but now that it has happened it I don't feel surprised, just annoyed with the aftermath.
      I think that all of these disasters are connected. I think that it connects the people of the world. It does make people a little kinder . You hope. Many volunteer, many donate. At the very least one feels pain for those who lost so much .  I think that it makes us see how fragile the world really is. A few hours of a storm  can bring  such havoc. It also makes those of us who escaped virtually unscathed grateful for what we do have. Or at least this is what it should do.
     My heart and prayers  go out to those who have lost their lives or their homes .