Who Cleans Up After the Storm?


 

 

We up here in the Northeast watch with a combination of fearful remembrance and trembling as Hurricane Milton sweeps across central Florida.  Memories of how Ida and Sandy caused so much death and destruction makes us realize how people in Florida are trying to cope.  Hopefully enough people got out of harm’s way.

 

On the political front former candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wants to get rid of Social Security and Medicare claiming that the “entitlement state” draws migrants here. Maybe his income was too high to pay into these programs, but you and I paid into both.  They aren’t entitlements; they are the equivalent of government backed IRAs.

 

And, when this hurricane season is over, who do you think will be rebuilding Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina? Immigrant workers who, although they pay into Social Security will not benefit from their payments unless they acquire permanent legal status.

 

Prayer for the Day

 

Nature has its way of showing fury and anger, O God,

  Anger at how we have abused and exploited her;

Why is it that all we do is mourn the dead, the devastation,

   And not see that we have brought so much on ourselves?

Help us, O Lord, to use these storms as lessons,

    Instructing us so that we care better for your creation.

In the name of the One who cares for us all,

   Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

 

Thoughts for the Day

 

As climate change accelerates natural catastrophes, the disaster-restoration industry has capitalized on low-wage immigrant labor. These workers — who clear debris and build anew after hurricanes, floods and wildfires — perform the most arduous tasks. 

            Center for Public Integrity, Columbia School of Journalism

 

Compliance assistance allows OSHA to intervene at hundreds of worksites involving thousands of workers. Using the same number of staff on an enforcement footing, OSHA would only reach a small fraction of those workers.

            OSHA statement after Hurricane Ian, 2022

 

Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.”

   They are corrupt, they commit abominable acts; there is no one who does good

God looks down from heaven on humankind

   To see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.

They have all fallen away, they are all perverse

   There is no one who does good, no, not one.

            Psalm 53: 1-3