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Stocking up for survival, a faint hope against fear
© St. Petersburg Times The letters were scrawled in peach-colored chalk on the sidewalk leading to the park. NO WAR. The child, who is beginning to learn how to read, looked down at the letters and put some of them together. "No," the child said. Then the child looked at the remaining letters and asked what they spelled. "War," said the parent. "What's war?" the child asked. Words failed me. Whatever I said would have been inadequate, frightening or incomprehensible. How do you explain war to a child? And how do you, as an adult, prepare yourself? I have largely ignored the government's advice on getting ready for war on the second front, here at home. My own way of staying sane has been to conclude that Tampa Bay will simply not be the site of a terrorist attack -- even though we have hundreds of miles of unprotected coastline and contain the headquarters for the war effort, the U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base. Having said that, last week I went out and did what I never thought I would do. For one, I loaded up on batteries. I told myself we will always need them. And I bought some water. If I had gone though the supermarket pushing a cart while dressed in a clown suit, I would not have felt sillier -- or more conflicted. I kept thinking that it won't happen here, and if it won't happen here, then I was just being an alarmist. But if I changed my mind about how it won't happen here, I'd be openly declaring that I did not feel safe and never would again. I bought the water anyway, two 2 1/2-gallon containers of it that are supposed to be part of my bulwark against the unthinkable. It isn't enough water by some government standards, but different governments disagree over what's enough. The state says you need one gallon per day per person for seven days. The federal government says you need at least three days' worth. The state advises that, along with other items, the water be placed "in an easy-to-carry container or backpack." Got that? You're supposed to be able to carry this on your back. I did a little calculating. My 5 gallons of water weigh more than 42 pounds. I'm supposed to carry this? Or should I keep a pack mule in the back yard in case of emergency? The mule could also carry the plastic sheeting, duct tape and the face masks from Home Depot that the government said will protect me in a biological or chemical attack but scientists say won't. Why doesn't the government just admit there's nothing to be done and we're cooked if the worst happens? What good will a survival kit do when somebody pumps a mall full of poison gas or if a wacko opens fire at a stadium? Human nature can't accept the answers to these questions. Even in the face of the stiffest odds, we feel compelled to do something, to act as though we can exert some control over the outcome. So some of us pack our survival kits. The government says you need everything from rubber gloves to diapers to potassium iodide tablets (they would be taken after a nuclear attack) to comfort foods, like peanut butter and crackers. I still can't bring myself to get beyond the batteries and water. I'm comfortable with them. They signify hurricane season. But this other? Terror and war? To buy the gloves, the peanut butter (and the wrench and the screwdriver, the radio and the scissors among still more items), to stock my shelves, would be to admit that what's coming is a killing season, a random storm without reason or end. I don't want to believe it. Not yet. I don't want to live in constant fear. Not yet. -- Mary Jo Melone can be reached at mjmelone@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3402.
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Times columns today From the Times Metro desk |
