So tonight I'm in a hotel with one of the guys from my sales team. We are not too far outside of Jersey. Tomorrow we will be arriving with a big ass U Haul truck practically filled with food, water, gasoline, and a few generators. This guy has family in Jersey that are in a bad way and my boss picked up the tab to send us out there with the truck and supplies.
Anyway his family has been waiting since Tuesday to see some help either from the government or a private charity. So far they have seen nothing.
There are 8 of them, ages ranging from 3-96, who have been living in a home that has been without running water and electricity, since Monday night and have been out of food since last night. Thankfully the neighbors were able to help in that regard and have helped with drinking water as well. From everything I've been told the neighbors were rather well prepared but even they are getting thin on necessities.
Suffice to say my coworkers family were of the opinion going in that the government wouldn't let this happen to them. They believed that the government had a plan and would see that the people who needed the help would get it in a quick and efficient manner. They believed The Goodyear Christi when he went on TV and the radio and told New Jersey citizens that he would see to it that they got the help they needed. They believed wrong.
It would be one thing if this was an isolated incident in just their part of the state but it's not. In New York people are digging through dumpsters full of spoiled food in the hopes of finding something remotely edible. FEMA is sitting on hundreds upon hundreds of generators yet so far only a hand full have found their way into the hands of the people who need them desperately. There are hundreds of thousands of people just like my coworker's family that relied on the government to their detriment.
The government as a whole, republican, and democrat both, have failed the people who were impacted by Monday's storm. Obama and Christi both appeared more worried about looking and sounding good for the cameras than they did about actually doing some good. Nanny Bloomberg was, up until this evening when he finally knelt to public pressure and cancelled it, insisting on having the fucking Marathon on Sunday and waste god knows how many precious resources that could be used by people desperately in need. Up and down the East Coast is one example after another of the government not coming through when people need them most.
If there is one positive to come from this it will hopefully be that people will start to realize where depending on the government gets you. Maybe a few people buy up 40-50 extra gallons of water just in case. Maybe a few go out and get themselves a generator. Maybe a few go out and buy some extra canned goods and vacuum sealed foods to put back so there is no need to dig through a dumpster if this ever happens again. Maybe a few people buy some extra gas to store away so they don't have to wait 5 hours in line for 6 dollar a gallon gas that may or may not be gone by the time it's their turn. Maybe a few more people see that the government may very well NOT be there when you actually need them most.