freckles make me strong.

The last couple weeks I have been in the Houston area doing recovery work for Hurricane Ike. The tumblr has suffered. Here is what I might have posted if the internet or downtime were at my disposal. I arrived in Houston after three flights and a long lay over in Dallas due to mechanical problems.

As if I wasn’t feeling old enough these days, the rental car company gave me a grand marquis. I got the last car in Austin and I saw this poor young couple from Houston that had just come back from Europe and couldn’t get home. I gave them a ride into town [Side note: They work for NASA mission control. Freaking fascinating!].

I was staying at the Hilton (hooray for expense reports), but don’t be misled, this was not the lap of luxury. Paris wouldn’t have stepped foot in there. No water, no power and the smell of feet everywhere. I navigated by cell phone for a while until we got power back. As it turns out there is little difference between the Hilton and a Motel 6 in a natural disaster.

Among the things I forgot to pack (bug spray, flashlight, etc.) I forgot to bring a charming Texan twang. The first thing everyone asks is where I’m from because I under-use ya’ll (which is to say it never leaves my lips).

The days blur together as one with intermittent power naps. I went around to a lot of the cities in Galveston County to meet with authorities and survey the damage. Some places faired pretty well but others are devastated. The boats that were in the marinas are sunk or tossed under dock rumble. Still other boats were completely lifted out of the water and sitting haphazardly on lawns. I saw a 50’ yacht that had taken out the side of someone’s house. The first floor of most of the houses on the coast where completely destroyed by about 4 feet of flooding.

I ran a truck certification site for most of the time I was down there. That is where we measure the cubic yards of the truck and verify tags and such so the trucks can collect debris and be reimbursed accordingly by FEMA. There is a mountain of paperwork involved in disaster recovery.

When things got crazy at my old job and someone wanted a status check on something mundane I used to say, “This is triage. We are doing open heart surgery on the sidewalk with a spoon. I don’t have time for that”. Disaster work is like that, only constant and with chicken-sized mosquitoes.

The adrenaline is incredible, which is important since I was working 16-18 hr days. Sleep deprivation is common and expected.

I am back in Seattle for a big sleep and some face time in office.  I am going back to Galveston County next week.

If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you’re not a conservative at forty you have no brain.  -Winston Churchill

This quote has come up several times in my conversations about the current presidential election.  

This is the kind of thinking that leads people to be dismissive of the contributions of young people.  The mantra would dictate that liberalism is a stage and a natural stop on a political coming of age journey, like keg stands or skinny dipping, something that should be indulged, enjoyed and left in the past.  It would further imply that people who are liberal beyond their twenties are the political equivalent of adults who live in their parent’s basements; to be pitied and written off. 

Maybe being liberal is something that is easier when you are younger.  It can be almost instinctive to latch on to optimism and hope and the struggle for equality.  It’s a lot hipper than trickle down economics and school prayer and the death tax.  However, just because it easier when you’re younger doesn’t mean it goes out of style as you age.  Liberalism is much more than a passing fad of youth.  As you grow older, your political identity gains depth and you grow into yourself.  Your views exist in a gradient atmosphere rather than a binary vacuum.   Your politics are no longer limited to a campaign slogan and a few feisty quips.  

So why is that liberal ideals are less acceptable as one ages?  Ask your average twenty something and they will tell you that the policy of the left is about standing up for disadvantaged and the underrepresented.  Whether or not they qualify, most of them on some level see themselves as a part of those groups and therefore identify with the struggle. 

As a result, as one grows older, and wealthier and more comfortable it is easy to adopt a “pick –yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps” mentality.  After all, they did it.  With a little bit of privilege it is easy to say, “If I can do it, so can they”.  The problem is of course that reality is complicated.  

What it comes down to is this: Just because conservative values seem better for your pocket book doesn’t mean you need to sell out.  Just because you made it “all on your own” with a little hard work doesn’t mean the playing field is level.  And just because I am a liberal doesn’t mean that that I naïve and young or older and stupid.  

Last night I watched Head of State with Chris Rock.  With the following mental search and replace I drew a quick parallel to how ludicrous some of the attacks ads against Obama. (Please note the movie is a satire and was never intended to foreshadow the current election)

Mays Gilliam Barack Obama did not attend this year’s annual rally against cancer.

Is Mays Gilliam Barack Obama for cancer or against cancer?

Mays Gilliam Barack Obama, he’s for cancer.

Vote Brian Lewis John McCain for President.  It’s your last chance.