I am a theoretical physicist and currently Director of 
September 15, 2005
Why poor people find it hard to abandon their homes
One of the commentators who harshly criticized the reluctance of so many poor people to leave prior to and after the hurricane hit New Orleans expressed amazement at their attitude. After all, he, said, such people had few possessions of value. Their clothes and furniture were of Goodwill store quality and their cars were usually junk. Unlike rich people who owned things of real value, poor people's stuff was valueless and thus could be easily abandoned to the floodwaters or looters. He concluded that their reluctance to leave was irrational and their stubborn decision to stay in the face of warnings meant that they had forfeited any right to sympathy and assistance.
But as I said in a previous posting, such an attitude, apart from betraying a dismaying lack of empathy, also reveals a deep lack of understanding. It is precisely because they are so poor that whatever possessions they own are so valuable to them. Poor people who buy and drive beaten up old cars do so because it was what they can just barely afford. For many, having even a very old car means the difference between working and being unemployed, eating and going hungry, since a car may be the only way they can get to their jobs. Losing that car is a major disaster for them, whereas for better-off people, losing a car to flooding or looting does not have the same impact. It can be a financial hit but it is rarely life-changing.
Another reason that some people (both poor and not-so-poor) refused to leave their homes was because they could not take their pets with them and this too mystified some observers. Marc Fisher, a Washington Post columnist responded this way to someone who wondered why he/she found it so disturbing to see animals in distress or dead during the storm. He said: "Beats me. But then again, I cannot fathom why all these folks who stayed behind to take care of their pets would risk their lives for an animal that they could easily replace at any pet store."
I can only conclude that Fisher has never really had and loved a pet. If you ask most pet owners, making the decision not to abandon a pet would be considered not only perfectly rational but they would be surprised to think that there was any other option. Abandoning their pet would be considered inhumane.
I saw a video clip in which a man was telling reporters that a young man and his dog had rescued him from his roof. All three were by the roadside because the young man was refusing to leave New Orleans because his dog, which had been the twenty-four year old man's friend and companion for fourteen years, would not be able to go with him. During the entire interview, the young man was petting and holding on to the dog and crying while the dog, recognizing that his owner was distressed, affectionately licked his face and tried to console him, as dogs are wont to do.
It was only after the interviewer promised to take the dog in his own vehicle to Baton Rouge and reunite him there later with the young man that he relinquished his grasp of the dog. And the story did have a happy ending when they showed the pair happily together again the following day. It was an extremely moving clip.
Is such a fierce attachment to an animal irrational? Perhaps. But if so, I would argue that it is precisely such irrational attachments that make life worth living. Pets bring us great joy and affection.
I must admit that before I acquired a dog of my own, I too did not fully understand the strong feelings that people have towards their pets, so I do not want to judge harshly the person who made the above statement about the disposability of pets. I just want to suggest that we cannot always assume that we know and understand what is important to other people and prescribe how they should act in extreme situations.
We are not machines. Our whole emotional fabric is wrapped around our personal life experiences and when people's life situations are much different from ours, it is likely that they will have different views on what is important in their lives and what to do in extreme situations. Especially in their times of great need, we have to respect their wishes as much as is humanly possible. And our emergency rescue procedures should take this into account when we make evacuation plans.
POST SCRIPT 1
This week The Daily Show is doing a four part series on evolution. You can see part 1, part 2 , part 3-I, and part 3-II.
POST SCRIPT 2
Sometimes one picture really does just say it all….
(Thanks to the Progressive Review website.)
Trackbacks
Trackback URL for this entry is: http://blog.case.edu/singham/mt-tb.cgi/2652 Katrina Fallout - Why Leaving Home Was/Is So HardExcerpt:
I found a Case Western University student blogging about why poor folks wouldn't leave their homes during the godawful flood....
Weblog: We Interrupt This Broadcast
Tracked: September 18, 2005 10:52 AM
Comments
I agree, it is difficult for those who have never lived with a pet to understand the devotion another person would have to an animal. On the other hand, it is difficult for those of us with pets to understand how someone could view them as disposable.
My family has always had at least one pet, usually a dog, a cat, or both. Other than the time I spent at the dorms in college, I have only lived for 7 months without a pet - the first 7 months I lived on my own after graduation.
I obtained Ayla, my cat, through a friend of mine. The story is long, but the important parts are that this friend was also a neighbor, and she owned 3 cats, 2 male (Levi and Jazz), one female (Ayla). My friend had to find new homes for her cats, so I adopted Ayla, and another friend adopted the two boys.
Shortly after adopting Ayla, I went through one of the most emotionally stressful periods I've experienced - a good friend died of cancer, a well-loved professor died suddenly, my work became very stressful, some issues cropped up within my family, and a romantic relationship ended. Taken by themselves, these issues probably would not have been too difficult to deal with. Grouped together, it was more than I could really handle. Having Ayla around to care for, talk to/with (she's a very vocal cat), and snuggle with at night (she likes to sleep on my stomach while I lay on my back) provided much-needed comfort and purpose.
Human friends are important, but pets often provide the unconditional love that we can't easily accept or expect from other humans. To leave a treasured member of the family behind to fend for him/herself, especially a member who can't really understand what is going on, just seems cruel. Yes, they aren't human. Does that make them any less deserving of love and care?
On a side note, I love the picture in the postscript. Kinda says it all. ;-)
I think the caption in that screenshot is made all the funnier by the realisation that it's from Ireland's Murdoch-owned satellite news channel: a sibling of Fox News.
Attachment to a place despite odds stacking up against you is totally understandable. Whenever people are forced to evacuate a place I think of something that happened to me some years ago. I was living with my parents in a house that was very old. One day a huge section of the plastering in the ceiling of my room collapsed. My parents were thankful that I wasnt present in the room when it happened and forbade me from using the room again. I was devastated - the room meant independence and freedom and I could not bear to sleep in the hall. After waiting for some months and seeing that more plastering did not come down, I decided that the room was safe and moved back despite protests.
That is the nature of attachment to a place that we call our "own". While the incident I narrate is nothing compared to a whole house being washed away in a flood, it always helps me to understand how difficult it must be to just leave a place you have grown to love.
I know that a lot of people treat pets as if they were their own children. You wouldnt expect someone to leave their children behind either.
People are irrational, especially when it comes to love. It's not a bad thing. We just are. Life would boring otherwise.
I know that a lot of people treat pets as if they were their own children. You wouldnt expect someone to leave their children behind either.
People are irrational, especially when it comes to love. It's not a bad thing. We just are. Life would boring otherwise.
I understand the attached to pets and places. I can see why people would be hesitant to abandon their homes, but if they refuse to leave, they have no base to argue about the assistance in the aftermath of a disaster.
The people who are refusing to leave these affected areas because of emotional ties to pets/homes/etc are the same people who are lambasting anyone in sight for not doing more to prevent their suffereing.
You can't have it both ways, you are either making a decision to stick it out and be with your pets/belongings, or you saving yourself. Failing to take the opportunity to flee and then blaming those who told you to flee is absurd to say the least.
Well, I know that some animals and people will always be treated differently and have more rights than others--due to differences, jobs etc. I honestly think that the government should play a more defined role in animal well being and welfare--not just for people! If you want, you can post comments on my website and see if there's a pet that you would like to have. My website is www.pettraderz.com Take care.