I lived in my Dad and Mom's home until I was 19 and entered the armed forces. We lived high above the two creeks that merged on our property and we could watch the fences being washed out and the crops being drowned from the safety of our house and farm buildings. My dad always told us that when we grew up to to build on high land. Neither my brother or my seven sisters nor I ever built or bought houses on low land and never experienced a flooded home.
It is difficult for me to understand why people won't read history and yet succumb to the entreaties of the greedy developers, opportunists and realtor's and continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. It is also difficult for me to understand why the government continues to help fund the homeowners to rebuild in the same places under the same conditions.
I resent paying higher insurance policies to offset the cost of insuring others who don't seem to understand the risks they are taking or care where there home is located.
No one can comprehend what grief those who thought they built far enough away or behind safe levees to protect their properties from damage of flooding and still watched as their homes were destroyed and the emotional drain they are now trying to endure.
Mother Nature can be and is devastating. People must realize and assess the personal risks they are taking before they decide to challenge her and be ready to accept the risks. They must UNDERSTAND IT IS THEIR RESPONSIBILITY for most of these decisions of where to build. It is their responsibility to review at least a hundred year history of the area.
Still, we are a compassionate nation and try to help all despite their sometimes repeated follies.
2 comments:
Is it really compassion? Or is it a case of politicians afraid to appear to lack compassion. In the short run, it seems compassionate. But perhaps it's more compassionate to say "no." People keep building where they ought not to.
I realize that maybe a billion or more people have no recourse except to live in areas that are or could be most affected by severe weather. By compassionate; I meant that we Americans always send help just because we feel that we should.
As to the government telling people where they should live; probably not. The government does have an obligation to assist them when unusual needs arise. All assistance starts at a local level with last resort the Federal Government.
I note that Galveston told people to leave and those that didn't and later on needed government assistance would be fined $1000 to help cover evacuation costs.
Seems fair.
But insurance companies should have the right to not keep selling them insurance. Those who take less risk sould not have to pay for those who do.
In a free country people do have the right to take risk with their own money and their own lives.
But they need to accept reponsiblity for their actions.
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