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5 Things I Learned in a Winter Storm
And how it’s helping us cope with what comes after.
It’s February 17th, 2021, and Texas has experienced a Winter Storm of snow and ice that’s almost crushed our electrical grid, knocked out water supply in several areas, and closed down our transportation system, among other logistical nightmares we Texans weren’t prepared to face. A few days into this wild ride, I’ve observed some things.
Politics Matter
The people you vote for have the power to make life-or-death decisions about things that deeply impact our day-to-day lives. It isn’t all declaring “Rainbow Day” or hosting egg hunts on the capital lawn. Even those obscure offices like “Railroad Commissioner” get to decide things like whether it’s worth it to winterize our electrical grid, and as such, all the people I vote for from now on need to accept the reality of climate change. It’s not normal for California to be engulfed in wildfires, for hurricane season to go through two cycles of the alphabet, or for Texans to have sub-freezing ice and snowstorms for days on end.
We can’t government program our way out of being good neighbors
Ultimately when the police and sheriff’s departments are overwhelmed, the true onus is on the citizenry to check in on its neighbors. We can’t…
