Friday, July 28, 2006

Stage seven

With the kind cooperation of childcare providers, I made it to my all-day meeting in Modesto yesterday. It was a crisis communications conference sponsored by Stanislaus County. The speaker was Vincent Covello, who seems at first to be a classic East Coast BS-er (and I still think his stories about his wife must be fictional -- I hope so, for her sake) but turned out to have an awful lot of good information. The workshop was a very good experience for someone in my professional position.

One thing he said struck me and still turns my stomach to think about.

We were doing an exercise preparing for media questions during an influenza pandemic, "stage four." We were to assume conditions in hospitals and grocery stores not far off those that occurred after Hurricane Katrina -- except worldwide. Needless to say, this was pretty frightening.

He then said he spent last week in Beijing preparing a crisis plan for an influenza pandemic, "stage seven." He said, "You don't want to know what that means." Four people from the conference were hospitalized with panic attacks or nervous breakdowns.

These are real world leaders preparing for things they really think might happen. Rudy Giuliani hired Covello in 1995 to help the city of New York prepare for crises such as the bombing of major landmarks. Only six years later, he found a very good use his crisis plan.

I'm not an alarmist or an end-of-the-world freak or a conspiracy theorist. But I do believe that someday Jesus is coming back to set things straight in this world he made and saved. And before then, a whole lot of very scary things are supposed to happen. I don't automatically believe those who say that's coming anytime real soon. But on the other hand, it could be. Who are we to say?

It's easy, when you're trying to be prepared either personally or professionally, to get caught up in fear. How will I keep my children safe? How will we survive? How will we cope with images as scary as we've seen on CNN, only right in our own neighborhoods? How will we answer the questions of others? How will we deal with the questions in our own hearts?

Yesterday as the space between my ears started to buzz with this kind of panic, I remembered. I have a safe place. It's not a perfect place but it offers a promise that I believe. It's the gospel of Christ and the direction of inspired leaders. And if the going gets really rough down here, I don't think I'm going to be worrying about the concerns that seem so important to me in my day to day life. I'm going to want to be a lot more trusting and a lot more obedient. I should probably practice those things.

If we are prepared, we shall not fear.

3 comments:

SalGal said...

So... is it bad that I do the best I can to "be prepared" and bury my head in the sand the rest of the time? 'Cos I'm thinking I'd be one of those hospitalized panic attackers if it isn't.

I know I have the safe place, I just haven't mastered telling my brain to shut up so I can remember that.

Lisa M. said...

Okay, I am starting my bomb shelter tomorrow.

*grin*

I agree with salgal... I need to tell my brain to shut up.

I have all these panic-y feelings with a special needs child that requires $3000.00 worth of formula a month and can't eat anything .

I do have a safe place though, and I feel comfort when I ponder it.

You're a great gal.

S'mee said...

In our stake, Leaders are going from ward to ward with the familiar prophetic council, the same council that has rung out since 1933 or so: get out of debt, own your home outright as soon as possible, store a year's supply of food, water and fuel if possible, be self reliant.

The first thing on the list however is:

Live Righteously so that the Lord may bless you.

We sometimes forget that we need spiritual preparedness as much as we need the food in the pantry hold. There are many forms of calamity, physical and natural disasters are just on the forefront of our collective conscience.

Families such as Lisa'a cannot prepare fully and stock all that is necessary to sustain E. Who in New York City could store a full year of food? Most of our homes are inadequate when it comes to enough space.

That said everyone can prepare for Spiritual needs, which Lisa is a very good example of.

The Lord blesses our obedience and our willingness to continue the work of trying our best, if not our completion of the task at time of the test.

Be one with our inner boy scout! Be as prepared as we can be given our particulars. Encourage those around us to be as well. And lastly be as the widow women who shared her last meal with Elias; be immediate in our obediance and have faith and let the Lord fill our cruse with oil and our barrels with meal.