If you reside in the northeast United States, you are undoubtedly aware of Hurricane Sandy, and are probably making preparations for this event. Even if you don't live in the impact area of this storm, you have heard I'm sure about this storm.

Below is the current track for this event. And much to my surprise and alarm, it illustrates that the storm is expected to literally be on top of me and the city of Wilmington, DE at 4:00 AM Tuesday morning.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at3.shtml?5-daynl?large

I recall vividly the damage and hardships that tropical storm Irene brought to us. And this storm appears to be much worse. In fact it doesn't take much recollection at all to recall Irene, because some of the damage in our area still remains, and some homes are still in the process of being rebuilt.

To put it bluntly, Irene simply kicked our asses. Irene devastated us locally. I am fifty-one years old, and had never, ever been afraid of a weather event in my life. And I was petrified as I experienced Irene, and thought it would never end.

So now we are preparing for Sandy, and we know and are told that this storm will be worse. And believe me when I say that worse than Irene is a frightening thought. And for several days now, we've been receiving the usual warnings in the media. And with those usual warnings are the instructions as to what we should do and how we should prepare.

And for many residents in the impact area, and specifically many of the residents in my city, these instructions are both farcical and entirely impractical. Because the simple fact of the matter here is that the poor and the working poor don't have the resources to make any preparations at all.

We as a community are told to stock up on batteries and such. But the poor and working poor generally lack the resources even for something as simple as buying batteries. We are told to stock up on non-perishable food items. Lost in that particular precaution is the fact that this is the end of the month, and the poor and working poor exhausted what meager food stamp benefits they had for this month days ago. They have been eating pasta and ramen noodles for days now, and doing what they do every month- which is to say they are holding on until they receive their monthly allotment sometime at the beginning of next month. And those allotments are coming too late.

And this is an issue that you really have to wonder about. An issue of such stupidity that it borders on being unbelievable and is utterly outrageous. This area and the people that live here are told to stock up on non-perishable foods, and have enough readily available for at least a week or two. And that power could be off for even longer than that. And they are told that at the exact moment of the month when they have absolutely no resources to do that or achieve that.

By simply replenishing the balances on their food cards a mere two or three days early, people with absolutely no means could actually buy this weeks' worth of food and prepare. And without it they can't. It is craven stupidity beyond comprehension.

Roughly 40% of the residents of our city rely on food stamps for survival. So as this once in a lifetime storm bears down upon us, they see those people with means getting cash out of ATM machines. Rushing to Home Depot for their generators and batteries, and mobbing the grocery stores for bread and milk and ice and who knows what else.

And they are afraid. And they have reason to be. Because they remember Irene and how brutal that was. And they have kids and families and are wondering how in the hell they can feed them. And they watch this cavalcade of mad preparations and they are absolutely left out and left behind.

If you are poor and in the path of this event, the term "perfect storm" has a whole new meaning. Perfect storm not only defines the event itself, it also defines the calendar. As the calendar goes, this is well and truly the perfect storm. Because the calendar works against you in a diabolical way that could not possibly be worse. It is a cruel Catch 22 that is leveled at the most vulnerable in our community. On the one hand being told that it is absolutely vital to stock up in preparation for this event. And on the other hand realizing that you don't have the means to do so, and won't have access to those means until after the storm hits and when in all probability it will be impossible to do so.

If you aren't poor or working poor, you probably don't understand fully what this means. And what it means is fear and terror. It means being left behind. It means staring at empty cupboards with absolutely no hope and no way to replenish them at a time when you are told to do exactly that.

I wanted to post here today to reflect on this impending event that so many of us face, and to offer my hopes and prayers that all of us who live in this area get through this safely. For those that don't live in the affected area, keep us in your thoughts. In particular, keep in your thoughts those poor and working poor that are entering this event with no resources at all, and absolutely no way to acquire them before this storm arrives.

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Behind every great man is me rolling my eyes and doing the jerkoff motion.

