Perhaps you noticed. Last week, in the lead up to the Super Bowl shuffle and Seattle and television’s biggest stage, an unusual event occurred; it snowed in the South. From New Orleans to Texas to the top tips of Florida, the flaky white stuff fell from the sky.
And then there was Atlanta.
As editorialized by PoliticoMagazine:
“On Tuesday, snowfall of just over 2 inches shut down metropolitan Atlanta’s roads, schools, churches, government offices and businesses. Thousands of flights were cancelled at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. More than 2,000 school children were separated from their parents, and spent the night in buses, police stations, or classrooms. It seemed that the only places open were Waffle House and Home Depot, the former serving hash browns and coffee and the latter opening up its stores as makeshift shelters. People who didn’t camp out in supermarket aisles and hotel lobbies were trapped in cars for 10, 16, 20 hours as they tried to make commutes that normally take just 30 minutes.”
Now let me begin by acknowledging how frustrated, annoyed, and even infuriated many could legitimately be if they couldn’t get to their kids. Let me also add that the situation worsened: a baby was delivered by her father in a car on the interstate; many elderly were without medication; and 13 deaths were considered a result of the storm. All this from 2.6” of the flaky white stuff.
Let me add, too, that not everyone did everything well. In an area where snow rarely falls, unusual, subjective decisions had to be made in what to open, what to close, when to send home, and how to tackle the slippery streets. Any time subjective decisions are made — precisely because the decisions are subjective — there will be error.
What happened next, however, struck me as somewhat profound. Parents and pundits rushed to their publicized platforms and pens to share their frustration, annoyance, and infuriation. Friends, I have no problem with the expression of passionate emotion as long as it’s respectful to others. I also have no problem with the expression of passionate emotion that questions whether everyone did everything well — again, as long as it’s respectful. But what happened in those publicized platforms seemed an evolution of emotion that was striking. Because people were passionate, they were seduced into doing what passionate, emotional people often do; they began to blame.
Who did they blame? Logically, they would find fault in the subjective decision-making of municipal authorities. Remember: any time subjective decisions are made, there will be error. But the blame continued. The emotion continued. I then heard blame boldly cast on suburban sprawl, racism, the Governor, and an actual government conspiracy. Really.
Years ago Harold Kushner wrote a book entitled, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. The thought-provoking, contemplative work wrestles with how to respond to the “why them’s” and “why me’s” in life. How do we deal with difficult circumstances? After all, bad stuff happens. Frustrating, annoying, infuriating stuff happens. How we deal with it matters.
It would seem to me a wiser response to acknowledge the circumstances, changing what can, accepting what we can’t, and having the wisdom to know the difference. Casting blame wherever possible is not healthy nor wise.
The Intramuralist so desires us to be a less finger-pointing, blame-oriented society. I wish we could accept both the good and the bad instead of using our legitimate emotion to cast blame on other people. I desire us to be wise. P.S. It’s snowing outside my house today. I think I’ll enjoy it.
Respectfully,
AR