We've decided: it's a "Math-thing"....

Several of us were sitting around one evening last week sharing some conversation and a couple bottles of wine (remember the wine as you read further - it might have something to do with our "decision"). As we chatted, it wasn't long before our words turned to the Gulf. Someone wondered out loud why this lastest event. Well, we know why - it was a colossal mistake, but we were wondering why these mistakes seem so much bigger down here in south Louisiana. We all agreed that when something happens here, the results seem magnified when compared to other places. Maybe it's just because we live here, at (or close to) the epicenter of the event(s). Maybe it's because living here is such a chore - there are places that it's just damn hard to live in, and here is one of them. Over the last weeks we've heard many people in New Orleans say they're reminded how tenuous life is in that city - it makes them love it all the more (and...makes them more determined). Maybe it's because the Gulf wants to reclaim (or claim) some land we lay claim to - okay, I admit that one's far fetched (it was suggested after one too many glasses, I guess).

Whatever the reason, we all agreed that it's a hell of a thing that's happening and it just doesn't make sense - yet. It's like, how freakin' long is it going to last before it's over! You can't decide how to act while something's still unfolding, all you can do is manage and maintain. You don't know what's going to be reqired of you until something has happened, is over, and you know what you're finally facing. We're feeling this way and we're somewhat removed from the effects. God only knows how the people living on the coast and those losing jobs are handling their emotions. Why one thing after another - then another?

In the end, because we felt as if we should, we came up with some sort of theory and decided it must be a math thing. I don't remember exactly how we arrived at that conclusion (probably because I've never been very good at math), but it made sense at the time. It had something to do with magnitudes, probabilities, outcomes, quadrants, rates, ratios, and all sorts of legitimate-sounding math terms. In the end, we decided that crap happens everywhere, it just seems worse when you're where it's happening. I don't know why we went through the math exercise because that's pretty much what we were thinking to begin with.