Today I got a CPAP machine, and that will be a story for another time once I start using the thing. Instead, I want to talk about one of the questions that I was asked that came from left field.
The question was “where would you go in a disaster?” I found the question stunning, so much so that I was lost for words for about 15 seconds, which doesn’t happen often for me. I said it was an intriguing question, and asked why they would ask me that. She said because the CPAP machine needs electricity, and that many people, once they start using it, find they never want to sleep without it again, and thus if the power went out where would they go to still be able to use their machine.
Of course, me being me, my mind had gone elsewhere. I’ve always had the scenario in my mind that if I heard about something happening like we were being targeted by a nuclear bomb that I would just hop in the car and drive as far west as I possibly could to try to outrun it, since we’d have some notice that something was coming. And I live within 35 miles of a nuclear plant, but it’s recommended to be safe trying to be 45 miles away, so I always figured I’d hop in the car and head south if I knew something had happened there.
Yet, when all is said and done, how many of us have thought long term about where we’d go if a disaster struck? For that matter, wouldn’t your believe be like mine, that it would depend on what the disaster was? For instance, since my house is a mixture of gas and electricity, if the electricity went out I could stay in the house, keep warm, and eat just fine. But if it was a flood obviously I’d have to get away, but where?
Have you given this one much thought? By the way, I answered eventually that I would probably go to one of the local hotels about 2 miles away, hope they had power, and get a Jacuzzi room and just chill for a few nights if I needed to. That made them happy, and all was right with the world. Weird, right?
When I was commander in the army one of my subordinates was extremely crazy. Actually he was my right hand. As soon he felt that somebody from my squad is going to make trouble he was grabbing his neck telling – “I will take all of you,like a-bomb, just me and commander with remain alive and drink coffee”. Hiding, no way, I will remain with him and drink coffee.
I’d look to see where everyone else was going, then I’d go the other way.
That means you’d rather just be killed quickly and be done with it?
No. I think in a disaster situation, most people do the wrong thing, so following the crowd wouldn’t make much sense. (Originally when I said this, I wasn’t really being serious, but the more I think about it, the more I like it.)
In general I’d agree, but if they’re screaming, I’m running with them, hoping I’m not last lol