Earthquake in Italy, other disasters, recession– keep hanging on

An earthquake in Italy

I turned on the TV a few minutes ago to see what was happening in the world. Earthquake in Italy! That hit me right in the belly. I know Italy; I have been to Italy many times. I love the Italians and their pasta and their Chianti. Now these happy, friendly people have been hit by an earthquake.

Beautiful Italy

Only the other day my wife and I discussed taking an Online Cash Advance so we could spend a couple of weeks in Tuscany, our favorite summer haunt. Last summer we spent 2 weeks in a winery. We filled up on pasta made on the spot, drank wine made on the spot and ate sheep’s milk cheese that must have put my cholesterol through the roof. There’s nothing like a bit of diet-sin now and again. Now there’s been an earthquake.

It started with a volcano

This country has had its share of natural disasters. First there were the volcanoes, especially the one that buried the town of Pompeii. Now they have Mount Etna in Sicily that rumbles away and send up puffs of smoke keeping the population on its toes.

And then there’s the recession

And Italy, like every other country, is deep in the midst of another disaster, an economic recession. Imagine that from living a normal life, a man loses his income and then on top of everything, is hit by an earthquake. How awful! At the time of writing, about 50,000 people have had to leave their homes. They are out there, perhaps in some temporary shelter or with relatives or friends in other parts of Italy or just huddled up in blankets on the mountainside waiting for who knows what.

In such times

It is in such times that money becomes absolutely meaningless. It makes no difference if the family in the next tent with the screaming kids is richer or poorer than you. Everyone in is the same desperate boat adrift in some wild sea. You lost your job some months ago and you have somehow been making do. Now your house has either gone or is uninhabitable or is in danger of collapsing and you cannot go back to it. What’s left? Everything you had is in that house. Yes, you have a little money saved in the bank; where should you start the repair work?

Buy some decent clothes so you can start looking for a job? Put your wife and kids in a temporary boarding place to take the pressure off? Send the kids to your mother-in-law in Milan so they will be out of danger if the earthquake hits again? Buy a new tent and try and get as comfortable as possible and pray that the powers that be get organized and do something for the homeless as quickly as possible?

We’ve been in this movie already

Remember the 2004 tsunami and how that must have changed the lives of millions of people? The people who die in these catastrophes are gone and there is nothing we can do. But what about the people whose lives are left in ruins?

An earthquake is a disaster. A tsunami is a disaster. A recession is also a disaster that many of us, globally, are struggling with. Many of us are also homeless because of the recession disaster. All any of us can do at this point is – hang on.