This spring there was a devastating earthquake in Italy, quite far from my hometown, but we still felt it - in my case I also HEARD it. Although the shake wasn't strong enough to make anything fall from the shelves, it scared shit out of us. So while I was lying in my bed waiting for it to end, I was mentally considering what to do in case of evacuation: I should pack my backpack and run to the parking lot nearby. Yeah, that sounded like a damn good idea.
The problem rised one second later: WHAT do I put in my backpack? There was no easy answer. Food? Flashlight? Blankets? Oh come on, the answer is right there: anything valuable! Ok, so what's valuable? Let's get back there in a moment.
When Sandy started threatening the US east coast, we watched from here -Upstate New York- in concern for them but not that much for us. When, Monday night, the college announced it was going to be closed -first time in a century- we celebrated for five minutes and then received the phone call from our administrative assistant. Telling us to get the backpack ready and call 911 in case we were flooded. And although I've been here for three months and will be for only another nine, I looked around my room trying to make up my mind about what to pack. She had the answer: "pack anything valuable".
And back we are again.
So what's valuable? The more I look at the images from the devastated areas, the more I think of the backpack I prepared but didn't need. Did those people prepare theirs too? How did they choose what to bring? How do you pick memories of a lifetime to be saved? When does an object become "valuable"? Define "valuable". "It's just stuff"; "the houses are gone, but you can rebuild them". Fair enough, but how about everything that was IN those houses?
Since my passion is to collect memories and stories, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'll pack my virtual backpack of stories, memories, people who lived through Sandy. Because it's not about numbers, places, buildings. It's all about the people and their memories, and our task is not to forget what they went through and what they're doing to get back on their feet.
So here I am, packing the real valuables for a long trip along the Jersey Shore.
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