Posted on by Belinda O

Aftermath

Yesterday, the local recycling center caught on fire. I don’t know the full extent of the damage, but I’m bummed for a couple of reasons. One, they provided a real service by recycling a lot of large appliances, like washing machines, TVs and the like, and judging from the smoke, that’s part of what went up in flames. Two, that’s where I take my recycling, and the next nearest place is twenty miles away. So I’m hoping against hope that the smaller recycling area will be open again soon. I really don’t feel like driving too far to drop off all my Diet Coke cans.

The smoke was visible from thirty miles away, and we could see it clearly out my office windows, a mere ten miles away. There was so much smoke that it led to some speculation that that center had been a drop-off for tornado debris (we had multiple tornadoes in May) and a lot of wood was burning. Fortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Of course what actually burned doesn’t make it fortunate.

Situations like this are easy to dismiss as news headlines for a day if they don’t affect you directly. I wonder about this recycling business. Of course I’m probably affected in a relatively minor way if I have to drive a distance to drop off my recycling, but I’m thinking of how difficult and expensive it will be to rebuild the center. There are those who will be out a job, at least for a time, and I doubt they were paid well to start with, so it’s probably not a group of employees with substantial savings.

News reporters and newscasters are trained to remain objective in their reporting, and that objective tone can diminish our understanding of the cost of some situations. I appreciate the news outlets, like NPR, that interview those affected so some of the emotion can come in to the story. Still, the story is reported one day and gone the next. Yes, there are ongoing stories, but generally we don’t know the full impact of many of them.

I mentioned the tornadoes in our area earlier in this post. I work with people whose homes and property were severely damaged, and they’re still dealing with the consequences. It is one thing after another. There isn’t always a whole lot of good information in situations like this. One coworker I sit next to was afraid to get FEMA assistance because she and her husband are going through bankruptcy and she thought the FEMA help wouldn’t be available to her. I doubt that that’s true, but she feared even asking, in case she was given inaccurate information and later paid a price.

Now the hurricanes have hit. I have friends who have a winter home in Florida, and they only just today got word that their place survived the worst of Hurricane Milton. Yes, there was damage, but nothing that can’t be taken care of. I feel for them because their home here locally was damaged by one of the tornadoes in May, and they’re still cleaning up after that.

The same coworker who didn’t want to ask for FEMA assistance is planning a trip to Florida in two weeks. We’re trying to talk her into rescheduling, but she says she needs the vacation. Still, she gets on YouTube and watches video of all the damage in the areas she plans to visit. It scares her. I really wish she’d rethink her plans.

The aftermath of news stories is something we don’t always think about if we don’t live them, but it’s there nonetheless. Life is hard. Give to others when you can, especially if you’re lucky enough to come away unscathed.

Image Credits: News Headlines © suratin–stock.adobe.com; Recycling Symbol © Julia–stock.adobe.com; Tornado Damage © Noel–stock.adobe.com

12 Replies to “Aftermath”

  1. Where I live, we stopped recycling. Too many people were placing regular trash in the recycle bin. Then we had fires at our recycling plant, also. Several. Then there were mechanical problems. I think our mayor decided with so many issues, it was best to stop the program. With all the problems, we all became a bit jaded and wondered if our recycling had even really been recycled in the first place.

    Tornadoes…Belinda, having never been through one of those, they scare the heck out of me. I talked to so many people here who have had to work with their insurance companies after a hurricane. I cannot imagine what it is like working with FEMA. I really can understand the woman who needs a vacation. At some point, it all just becomes too much.

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    1. Tornadoes terrify me, and from what I heard, working with FEMA presents its challenges. I just hope my coworker’s vacation goes well. They’re starting out in Orlando and then driving to Fort Myers to visit some friends. She’s not sure the roads are even open. Fingers crossed for her and her family.

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    2. P.S. I understand becoming jaded about recycling. I hope my Diet Coke cans are actually recycled. I stopped drinking out of plastic bottles because I’ve heard from reliable sources that very little of it actually gets recycled. I don’t know what I’ll do with my cans now.

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  2. Thank you for this…the aftermath of headlines. What an important point, I think. Remembering that the rebuilding process for so many is a layered, painful process – and not just about the loss of property. And your thought about the recycling plant: “Situations like this are easy to dismiss as news headlines for a day if they don’t affect you directly” is such a true statement. There’s always something else popping in our newsfeed. Thank you for the reminder to pause and be grateful and then focus on helping others. 💕

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    1. I was really taken aback by how difficult the rebuilding has been for one of my co-workers. She had to take a lot of unpaid time off of work just to get her roof rebuilt, not to mention all the other day-to-day problems that arose. It was an eye-opener for me.

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  4. UGH – I think you’re so right… once the story drops off the news headlines, then people forget… but the mess and the sorrow and the damage remains… just unseen and unheard by the masses… but on the micro level, there is still someone with a broom and a pan trying to reclaim their life. Very thoughtful post, thank you, Linda xx

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