Good News

[Guest guest]

Well the good news/bad news is out now and for Sue, while some is bad, the good

is truly a blessing. Your counts are so on target - a scientist's dream.

Losing one of your best friends (your horse) is really sad, but your whole

community has learned what it is like to truly be one in this disaster. It's

like everyone was on equal footing and no one was spared some damage or loss.

I hope the worst is over for the country, but is the battle just beginning with

all the claims to the insurance companies? Our headlines are full of the latest

confrontations with the czar who is handling the claims for the oil spill

disaster.

Just when they were ready to close the books, more oil was found in sand on

other beaches, so it will never be over for the people who have lost everything

and know of any other way to earn a living. For generations, they have lived,

worked and eaten their catch. Difficult to put a price tag on that. I met

families when I worked for the Red Cross that did not eat meat, only what the

catch of the day was.

While we smacked our lips at pictures of crab, shrimp and oysters, it was their

daily fare. I took a family out on an excursion (on my own) and brought them to

a restaurant and the only thing they recognized on the menu was hot dogs, the

only meat they had ever eaten. I am referring to native American Indians, but I

am sure you have the same thing with your own people, only eating what they can

catch, trap or shoot. Here, too they live on reservations, but the government

never really recognized them, so they are not entitled to grants and land held

in trust, like other native Americans.

Here if we have hail or wind damage, they no longer cover your roof. If you

have high water, you need special flood insurance which goes up yearly, but if

your roof leaks and you have water damage, they will cover the water damage. I

can just imagine all of these people the powers that be) sitting at a conference

table, trying to decide what they will or will not cover and how much for

depreciation. My brother returned home after evacuating to find that the wind

had blown part of his roof and his damage was due to flooding from above, so he

was covered. It took him 3 years to complete the repairs and then he died. It

was like he was programmed with an expiration date on an embedded microchip.

I hope your countrymen are getting assistance from around the world to help with

this national disaster. We feel for the people in New Zeleand, too, they are

getting a bit of a rough patch, and not exempt from their own catastrophes.

Is anyone? Keep us posted on your continued progress. For a CMLer, there is no

joy like a " PCRU " .

Carpe Diem,

Lottie