5 things Hurricane Matthew taught me about modern society
Well, it’s over (for us Floridians). Hurricane Matthew ripped up the coast line, did its damage, and moved on.
With power just coming back on in my neighborhood after a brief 30 hour outage, I wanted to reflect on a couple of lessons learned during the storm.
1. Hurricanes teach us just how powerful nature is, and just how powerless we are
Sitting on the back porch, watching the oaks and pines sway like simple blades of grass in the wind, you realize there is true power out there. It is to be feared, admired, and loved.
Some of the most advanced inventions, machines, and systems are designed after nature.
Prepare as we might, there is still a sense of panic when you watch the lights flicker once, twice, and eventually go out. We have become so dependent on our technology. Addicted to it, unable to imagine life without it. When it finally fails us, we almost don’t know what to do with ourselves.
The powerlessness that is felt during the strongest part of a hurricane by the light of a candle reminds you to be thankful for the gift of life.
2. In the aftermath of a hurricane, you learn that silence truly is deafening
The howling winds have passed. The hum from the air conditioning and refrigerator have ceased. The TV, phone, and iPad have all stopped beeping.
Is this finally silence?
The only noise is the pitter patter of your children walking aimlessly around the house. The slight rain outside. The weakening gusts.
You are allowed to think for once. And actually focus on the world around you.
In Cal Newport’s book Deep Work, he artfully describes the world we now live in — A world of distraction fighting constantly to prevent ourselves from engaging in deep, thoughtful focus.
In the silence after a hurricane, you are blessed with a brief world absent of distractions. But it also shows you that you have lost the skill to focus.
During a quick journaling session during the outage, my mind was expecting to be pulled in a million directions, as it always is when I write. This time it wasn’t… and it didn’t like it.
The lesson here is to create space in your week to simulate the silence after a hurricane in your home. Our lives are all whirlwinds. Turning off the distractions, even for an hour, can begin to train our brains to think deeply again.
3. Prepping for a hurricane forces you to take stock in your life
As the winds were picking up, I was sitting on the couch with my wife.
“Should we have evacuated?” she asked.
“We’ve been through these storms before, we will weather this one as well,” I replied, like most life-long Floridians.
“But if we DID evacuate, what would we take?”
This was an interesting question… It made us stop and think about what is truly important in our lives.
We realized:
- Food can be bought
- All of our photos and videos are backed up digitally
- Our possessions are not important
- We are healthy
So we decided we would take:
- The kids (surprise?)
- Our phones and chargers
- Our prayer book
- Our Hybrid car :)
The wedding dress, photo albums, the thousands of toys we have for our daughters, they just things.
Take stock in your life and make sure you know what are your essentials.
4. Hurricanes allow you to reconnect with the ones you love
If you are ever stuck in a storm at night with only candles to light the room, make the most of the moment.
The girls were asleep, so with a bottle of wine, my wife and I were able to reconnect in a way we haven’t in a long time. We talked about each other’s dreams.
While this probably sounds lame to the macho men in the audience, it was an enlightening experience, one that we will repeat again.
We set the goal that collectively, we would list 100 dreams we want to achieve in our life.
So we started writing…
And we made it all the way to #75. But we stopped short. Want to know why?
We discovered that in most of the ways that matter, we are living our dreams today. Beautiful Family, Amazing Friends, Purposeful Ministry, and Self-Actualization.
Things like “Buy a Boat,” just don’t add up to the serenity that you feel when your REAL priorities have been achieved.
But the activity enabled us to reconnect and reflect on the journey we have already been on, and the trip ahead. And we are so ready for it.
5. And you learn that people still help people in need
In our society, it is so easy to see the worst in people. It’s televised and sensationalized on the news. We are taught to lock our doors and avoid eye-contact.
We teach our kids, “Stranger, Danger!” The trust in society is gone.
After a year living in my neighborhood, I am ashamed to admit there are neighbors whose names I still don’t know. But nevertheless, the day after the storm, we are all out helping each other put our homes back together.
We are all on the same team. We all want to be loved, to contribute to the world, and to find joy. Sometimes it takes a disaster to make us realize it…
My family survived the storm with minimal damage, but I know there are those that suffered catastrophic losses. My prayers go out to you and your families. We will rebuild and continue to thrive. God bless,