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** Updated September 18th.**Mental Multitasking
By lindamuralidharan on 2011-09-16 08:03:15
This blog is in something of a mini time warp since it was composed a week ago and not posted because of mixed signals
among bloggers.
As I write, I am still in the chaos of a flood. My local neighborhood has suffered, and I have had a lot of disruption and
damage from several feet of water in my basement. It is hard and distracting to need to take care of immediate needs day to
day, safety, keeping the cats out of harm's way, moving stuff out of the path of the flood, moving stuff back into the path
when danger has left, getting on waiting lists for professional services, engaging in decisions about what is salvagable and
what to throw away, facing inevitable dollar loss, and directing helpful volunteers.
I took the cats and fled to the home of a friend far from the flooded area, and found she had no power and actually a
rain/groundwater flood in her own basement. Her flood was only inches, though. Just for fun, maybe a joke from the
universe, I came back home to power but no hot water, a car that died, and a computer that died. I presume the latter two are
only indirectly related to the flood since they were never in actual flood waters.
Well, yeah, the cats are not happy being uprooted and now imprisoned in a bedroom to keep them out of contaminated
areas....and the far flung family has been frustrated finding out about me because sometimes cell batteries ran down, lost
power meant no house phone or email.
Continuing on, that first week of clean up and organizing the house again with items moved upstairs returned to place, I
found many challenges as I signed up to wait in line for local services, FEMA, etc. My body gave out on the fourth day of
lifting and carrying and being on my feet too much. Aggravated a previous condition, and it has slowed me down
considerably. The second week we had two more evacuation orders and a flood from Lee. I was only mildly affected while
some neighbors had to start all over again. Got help deciding on the new computer and setting it up...all of which has taken
time as my volunteer buddy found time. The FEMA inspector arrived the second week. Money from FEMA arrived the
second week. This past Monday I had my water heater fixed. Now I am waiting to see if the heater can be fixed. As
complicated and stressful as all of it has been, I am still very, very grateful that the water did not come into the ground floor
at all...just 5 feet in the basement. The point of all this is that it is still possible to mentally multitask. Despite my
immediate needs and those of my local environs, I still noted we are better off than the folks in Texas where hundreds of
homes were destroyed by fires. I also read about Iran inviting UN inspectors in to see some of their advanced nuclear
enrichment sites. I noted both the fact and ways to analyze what it may mean. Some will say that Iran is playing some kind
of game and that we ought not let the action influence us to make our own positive diplomatic moves. Well, I say that this
might be very true for good or ill and that about 70% of all diplomacy involves some kind of game playing. And this
process can lead to good or bad outcomes. Another possibility is that Iran, in its own coy way, Is practicing a strategy
common to other countries, Japan for one. This strategy involves obtaining fuel and designs and production facilities for the
making of nuclear weapons but not actually doing so. Everything is ready to go but not implemented under current
conditions. This is part a strategy of deterrence and part one of simply being prepared should some eventuality involve
threatened attacks. There is nothing to be lost and much to be gained by the US proceeding cautiously to meet the positive
move of Iran with one of its own. And somewhere in the midst of trying to get a new water heater installed at a fair price
(first plumber who tried could not fix it...eventually I hooked up with my own regular plumber who is "old school" and not
only knew what to do but didn't try to sell me a new one instead), continuing the process of helping neighbors and their
stopping by to help me, and catching up on the paying of bills and overdue library books, I read the article about the
terrifying attacks in Kabul on US and NATO facilities. After a cursory glance at the article, I backed up and read the
accompanying commentary. Some people, the author said, are concerned that these attacks are one more indication that the
Afghans are not capable of keeping the country secure if the US leaves. What? That is not even a question. The Afghans
clearly were not capable of preventing an invasion by US and NATO forces in the first place, and, second, these attacks are
occurring even with the allied forces' military active within the country. So there is no "question". The next stage is to
recognize that foreigners need to leave so that the country can evolve, however painfully, to a point where it has an effective
government and can settle its civil wars. And, however tough it has been and still is for my community to gain some
equilibrium after the flood, we all need to be conscious that we are affected by and partly responsible for the deaths and
suffering in many in parts of the world where our government has a habit of choosing the wrong "side". We can't directly
change the corruption, greed, viciousness of many actors on the world stage, but we can study situations and then talk to our
friends, call elected Federal officials, and stand up and be heard in favor of better American policies. So..let's keep our feet
dry while making sure we do more than gaze at our own navels.
