Handyman response to water damage example of good service, human kindness

[caption id="attachment_21133" align="alignleft" width="225"] Larry Alfieri, good service[/caption]

Carol Forsloff----At a time of hurricanes, floods, wind storms of all kinds and weather disasters everywhere, it's difficult to get construction done, given the numbers of people and structures affected, unless you are lucky enough to live in the Beaverton-Hillsboro Portland, Oregon corridor and you know Larry Alfieri.

Nothing can bring the holidays down in mood and direction than a water tank break. Add to that a cold snap with rain already and snow in the offing, and a condominium with limited space becomes even more uncomfortable with belongings everywhere and clean clothes at a premium. Insurance company promises and delays are one thing, but finding the right people to help at the right time can also be an issue, especially when many people need repairs or upgrades, as the Christmas holidays approach.

A visit to a local hardware store brought a valued name of a valuable “handyman” whose title should be much more, given his all-around skills. This Do-All name that is the monikker of the man's business outlines the real facts. He does it all and well.

Humanitarian approaches to services means a focus on real needs and having real concerns about a customer and the problems faced when a call is made, especially when it's urgent. So a handyman who does repairs is often the only individual outside of an insurance company representative that folks can interact with regarding their feelings and concerns when there is a household disaster. While neighbors may rally for support, the real thrust of help comes from where the money and work flows, as that often means the future for individuals and families.

[caption id="attachment_21134" align="alignright" width="300"] Water damage clutter[/caption]

In areas along the East Coast, impacted by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, people still wait for help. In New Orleans it has taken people many years to recover economically from Hurricane Katrina, and construction delays and fraud was everywhere for months, if not years, leaving people to manage their feelings of depression and anger in sometimes desperate ways. But how about finding something or someone good, who knows how to meet the crisis and do the right thing, just because it's the right thing to do? That's the Larry Alfieri model. Having the skills to repair construction damage is important, but the people skills needed to support folks impacted by the damage is also very important, and sometimes lacking, as folks look for serious help when problems occur.

The bedroom closet where the water heater broke is nearing completion, even as clothes and belongings remain scattered everywhere, which will be part of the clean up process faced by the condo occupants. But the process of correcting the damage from the water offers information about not just the work itself by how to do it well, in a manner others might use as an example, as the work unfolds in phases. And in a year fraught with difficulties, as has occurred with the occupants of the condo with water heater damage, having someone whose gifts of service and helping others around to correct the problems can be a blessing, and a real symbol of what being good to others really means.

Heat waves intensifying in mid-latitudes a growing emergency

Carol Forsloff - "Heat
waves are a growing concern and current climate models indicate they
will increase in duration and intensity especially in the mid-latitudes
of which Indiana and the Midwest is a part," says climate researcher and
IUPUI Professor Daniel Johnson.


When
we think of heat waves, we are inclined to think of the tropics or those
instances in cities, but now patterns are showing up in places
unexpected like Russia and the mid-section United States.


Scientists believe, however,  these heat waves will only intensify, especially in the areas of the Midwest.


"Heat
waves are known to kill hundreds of people in the United States every
year and are the leading cause of weather-related fatalities; usually
outstripping the combined effects of hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning
and flash floods. "says Professor Daniel Johnson.


Johnson
is a climate researcher and Indiana University-Purdue professor in
geography.  He observes that climate models show heat waves are going to
increase both in duration and intensity, especially in the
mid-latitudes, which includes Indiana and the Midwest.


"One
of the most likely disasters to strike the Central Indiana region is an
extreme heat event of considerable duration and strength," Johnson says.


Johnson
and his team are examining the impact on urban populations of the heat
waves in order to help emergency personnel with both mitigation and
response efforts to incidents caused by these heat waves.


Other meteorologists voice similar concerns.  One of them, Jeff Masters, has similar concerns about climate change expressed by Al Gore in "An Inconvenient Truth" and Johnson, as he looks at patterns according to DemocracyNow


This
is a summary statement based upon a review by Democracy Now of
scientists statements and projections:   "Wildfires across Russia.
Devastating floods in Pakistan. Deadly landslides and flash floods in
India and China. Heat wave across the United States. Severe drought in
Niger. Taken together, scientists warn the events match predictions for
extreme climate events caused by global warming. This year is on track
to be the warmest since reliable temperature records began over a
century ago, mainly due to a buildup of greenhouse gases from fossil
fuels."


It is,
Johnson indicates by his research preliminaries, time to prepare for
increasingly hot temperatures in anticipation of the emergencies and
health problems that can come about for people, especially diabetics and
seniors who are especially vulnerable in hot climate temperatures.


Al
Gore warned about these climate changes, got the Nobel Prize for his
efforts to combat problems related to climate change and has been the
joke of the non-believers.    He said at the time the world was reaching
a tipping point, according to the scientists of the world, and his
film, "An Inconvenient Truth" underlined the problems.


Naysayers
remark, however, scientists only do these things because they want more
money to keep their jobs through doing research and that their
pronouncements are simply scare tactics.  One writer has examined a
petition that had been sent around to get people to sign their
disapproval of investigations and conclusions about climate change.


The petition did not do well, according to the writer,
who talks about "science bypass" in his journal, the Mind of Dan, because
most of the major scientific groups, in all areas, believe through
scientific evidence and testing, in climate change.


But
Russia's fires, scientists say, in an area not known for such heat waves
and the devastating floods in Pakistan,  as well as heat waves in the
U.S. Mid-west provide strong evidence of the problems related to climate
change and global warming.


Johnson
tells us these issues are serious enough to warrant his research to
help the world prepare for the worst because of the safety and health of the people.


What if Al Gore and Johnson are right?

What about Indiana and Russia?

Oil spill, celebrity, deaths, hurricanes are often the stuff of urban legends

by Carol Forsloff - In times of dangers and painful events, the death of a beloved figure, a weather catastrophe or a man-made disaster like an oil spill, myths and legends result. Why does this happen and what should we know that might help us in our world?



John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a single person, a commission of inquiry said; but still many Americans believe there was a conspiracy instead.  Experts say we deal with disasters by using myths and stories, so we can deal with grief and events we cannot understand.  In the case of the Kennedy assassination, there were unanswered questions from the Warren Commission, that investigative group.  There were also those who needed to put a face on something to help them deal with the pain.

After Kennedy was killed, people were stunned and saddened.  Folks in some places forgot their anger, the bitterness over segregation, and simply mourned.  People in the South, for example, adopted Kennedy as a sympathetic figure, despite the fact some of these same people scorned the President when he was alive.  The need for myths and stories come from those issues as well, mental health experts tell us as a way of dealing with our personal regrets and guilts.

When Marilyn Monroe died just the year before Kennedy, there were speculations about her suicide, that one of the Kennedy's had her killed to silence her because of her love affairs with them; and stories simply grew.

There are also those who cling to the belief that Elvis Presley didn't die after all in 1977 and that he walks among us somewhere and may reappear some day.

The death of Princess Diane brought reaction from Mohammed Al-Fayed, the father of Princess Diana's boyfriend Dodi who was killed alongside her, that there had been a conspiracy to kill both of them because they were planning to get married against the royal family's wishes.

Michael Jackson died of an overdose of drugs, the coroner said last year.  But Jackson's family now maintains Michael's death was intentional and conspired.

Hurricane Katrina in 2005 showed officials in the police department, including the chief, talking about public rapes, people left to die in cruel ways, gunfire and rampant violence reported everywhere and random killings for no reason.

Even Oprah Winfrey was seen on television responding to these tales and stories about babies being raped and killed and other terrible things that were said to be happening during a dark and difficult period in New Orleans.  

Over time some stories faded, some grew, and some grew shady and filled with mystery as well.  It was if there were those who know secrets and will never ever tell, as if there was intention in government action or reaction and an abundance of blame to shift, so truth from fiction was hard to sort during and after Katrina.  People were made to be heroes or villains, depending upon our myths and stories and how we deal with loss.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, in that sense is like Hurricane Katrina.  It isn't over yet.  The stories are likely to change, to grow with time because of our human condition, our culture and our history, experts say.

There will be those who will believe there was a deliberate attempt to ruin livelihoods on the Gulf of Mexico to control the power of a major area of the South following the oil spill.  There will be voices shrill about which politicians took how much money from whom and when; and all the while the oil companies will sit as the historical target for many because of the damage to the environment and the livelihoods of many, perhaps for years to come.  It becomes easy for stories to surround those we do not know, cannot see, or who have positions of power and influence that separates them from us.

But what about the origin and outcome of these stories though, and what do experts say?

Psychologists like Elliott Aranson say we need our stories, our myths, our legends, our tales, our groups we cling to that encourage these beliefs, our terrible anger that comes and goes to help us deal with disturbances in our world we do not understand.

 Kathleen Tierney, Christine Bevc and Erica in Kulagowski looked at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the myths and stories that came and went and those that still remain.  What they say in their treatise, "Metaphors Matter: Disaster Mythis, Media Frames and Their Consequences in Hurricane Katrina," is this:

"It has long been understood by disaster researchers that the general publc and organization actors tend to believe in various disaster myths. Notions that disasters are accompanied by looting, social disorganization, and deviant behavior are examples of such myths.

Research shows that the mass media play a significant role in promulgating erroneous beliefs about disaster behavior.  Following Hurricane Katrina, the response of disaster victims was framed by the media in ways that greatly exaggerated the incidence and severity of looting and lawlessness. Media reports initially employed a “civil unrest” frame and later characterized victim behaviors equivalent to urban warfare. The media emphasis on lawlessness and the need for strict social control both reflects and reinforces political discourse calling for a greater role for the military in disasters.

The truth is not as exciting at times, nor does it gives us what we need to cope from day to day.  Disaster experts tell us though we must learn from that truth, seek it clearly away from myths and stories so that truth will still be known.

But ethicists tell us something, that deep down can do us good, that urban legends might help us vent and deal with pain, but when we want to move ahead, as mankind always does, we need our brothers standing with us as we ready for what's next.