Tag Archives: Watsonville

Pushing Back On The Mud, Day Four

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Posted by on in animal and plant life, Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving

April 6, 2023, Aptos, CA- The night shift is not for everyone. That much is clear, from the actions of one individual who has reportedly let his co-workers down, each night for the past three. I get an earful every morning, when I come into the shelter. Other than raising the issue on their behalf, as a responsible supervisor, I can do little more than listen-and keep prodding my superiors to take action.

Corporate life has long been weighed down by regulations that were initially intended to curb the tendency to dominate others and to ensure that every human being is treated fairly, valued, honoured and affirmed. Without the requisite appeal to heart and spirit, though, it has become a set of hollow point bullets, shattering initiative and guaranteeing, in all too many cases, the protection and enabling of miscreants. While no one really expects perfection in this life, lowering the bar of social behaviour cheats us all, including the miscreants who are little more than useful idiots, to the wirepullers.

I have been blessed to be among the flood victims, who have gathered in the cavernous exhibition halls of one of California’s premier agricultural fairgrounds. The people of Watsonville are among the millions who work and thrive in the “non-tourist” communities of the Central Valley and San Joaquin Delta. In the smaller area of Pajaro, the farmers go through floods, let the mud dry and go back to tending the soil-producing artichokes, strawberries and Brussels sprouts that meet growing demands for healthful diets.

This sort of resilience may very well survive even the present rising danger, posed by climate change. “And still we rise”.

Pushing Back On The Mud, Day Three

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 5, 2023, Aptos, CA- It made an impression, seeing the width and height of the Pajaro River, flowing through the remnants of its namesake town. The community of 2,000 people has been inundated, and largely leveled, by the second major flood in 28 years. Most locals remember the destruction from the Deluge of 1995. Now, the artichoke fields, and some of the vineyards which have sprung up, in the interim, will again endure an unplanned fallow period. It will take a long while to recover.

Not surprisingly, feelings are raw, and voices rose in anger, late this evening, as a few rowdy children ran about while some men and women were trying to sleep, ahead of the next day’s work. Matters didn’t come to blows, thanks largely to the calm voice of the night supervisor for the Red Cross crew. Those who felt that their children were unfairly chastised by others left in the middle of the night, but that was a free choice-and no one would have continued to berate them, had they stayed in the shelter. I stand by my associate and his style of management.

The day shift produced a whirlwind of activity and resulted in more materials and services being available to the residents-both in the shelter and around town. Watsonville, the larger town west of Pajaro, was also seriously affected by the flooding, and is also a focus of services, with food being brought to them by our mental health team and outreach from various agencies, both state and local. FEMA is becoming steadily, but carefully, involved in the recovery operation.

The scene is being replicated, across the continent, by wind and ice, as well as by flowing water. Tornadoes have slammed over a dozen states; Ontario and Quebec have suffered widespread power outages, due to ice storms, which are as bad as-and sometimes worse than, torrential rain. It is bound to be a long, hard Spring, yet we’ll get through it, by diligence, encouragement and sticking together.