Text received from our daughter Annie aka Mia Wallace on Facebook from the Hawaiian island of Kauai yesterday morning.
In Idaho, our phone rang just a few minutes after we had been texting family banter back and forth to Annie. Bill wanted her to know that he had finally gotten the 4-wheeler to start.
The UTV had been left outside during the cold, cold weather, and with yesterday's temps above freezing, he was able to start it.
"Tell Annie the 4-wheeler starts and maybe she'd rather be here," he said, as I filled a bucket of water for Lily's stall.
A minute or two later, he started down the lane toward the house, and I was able to catch of photo of him driving and three dogs bounding around the vehicle with their usual barking and excitement.
So, I sent the photo and Bill's message across the sea to Kauai.
Twas obvious from her brief comment that she was thinking "thanks but no thanks."
Minutes later, both of us returned to the house and soon after that, the phone rang. I could see that it was Annie.
It seemed strange that she would call us over our exchange of fun family banter.
"There's a ballistic missile warning," she said.
At first, those words seemed so outlandish that I thought I heard her wrong.
In the next exchange, I detected immediately that Annie was genuinely rattled.
"I sent you a text message," she said.
Still in disbelief but sensing her uneasiness, I asked her some dumb questions. Don't ask me what they were. In situations like that, the brain is going through a major disruption.
Annie's text had not yet shown up on my phone. During that realization, I put the phone on "speaker" so Bill could hear.
Then, an instant later the text (as seen above) appeared on my cell phone.
To say I lost my cool would be an understatement; to say I had any wisdom to offer would be a stretch at best.
What I remember most about those few minutes was the "I love you," sent to Dad, Mom, Willie and Debbie and the "I don't know what to do or where to go."
At one point, anger set in. Why do we live in a world where two crazy, arrogant, inhumane bullies are allowed to stoke such an atmosphere of fear?
That observation, however, would do no good at this moment when our daughter, thousands of miles away, was living the very thought of living her last few minutes on earth.
Annie was not alone. There were others in the streets at the hotel who had received the same text message, who were also living in fear, desperation and total confusion.
Gathering my thoughts through the tears, I asked Annie if she had gone to the hotel desk and asked. Yes, she had. They did not know what to do.
Then, Annie asked me to turn on the news to see if we could learn anything. I did so. There was nothing.
We agreed that I would keep watching and get back to her as soon as I heard anything. I turned channels, and, of course, the topic on each channel dealt with none other than the latest idiotic and insensitive behavior of our President.
By this time, I said to Bill that maybe this was a hacker and maybe this was not really true.
Then I googled "ballistic missile Hawaii," and when sites opened up, the first item stated, "I have called Civil Defense, and this is a mistake."
With a sense of relief, I called Annie, who was just hearing the same news.
The aftermath of this incident for us personally was total relief coupled with the stark realization that we had just spent a brief period faced with the worst possible news we could have ever imagined in our lifetimes.
And, yes, tears. Realization of that worst possible outcome will do that to anyone, I believe.
In my mind, the person who made the mistake needs a reprimand and whoever is responsible for the alarm system which allows such a mistake to happen so easily needs to revamp the system immediately so that such a mistake cannot happen.
Considering how long all those people on the island lived in real fear, it seems urgent that the efficiency of systems designed to alert the public that the warning was in error need some serious review.
The system definitely needs immediate improvement.
Also, information regarding basic emergency strategies should be provided upon arrival or easily accessed in places like Hawaii where thousands of tourists are coming and going every day.
All that said, I believe that the people who, on a daily basis who irresponsibily create an atmosphere of fear through their bombastic, immature and thoughtless rhetoric should take personal responsibility for level of desperation and emotional distress this caused not only among residents and visitors to the Hawaiian Islands but also with every loved one around the world who helplessly lived the horror from afar.
This morning, I am featuring a Facebook reflection from Annie and responses to her thoughts.
This
morning as I was packing my things up for a day of hiking, snorkeling
and exploring the beautiful island of Kauai I was interrupted by a
warning message on my phone I never thought I’d get in my life. “Extreme
alert: BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE
SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
I remember hearing about nuclear arms races and the Cold War as a kid...it didn’t feel like something that would ever affect me even though I knew there was tension. Perhaps I was too young to be scared. But lately I’ve been scared. There are madmen in power of powerful countries that would rather boast about their “buttons” than try for a little diplomacy.
I remember hearing about nuclear arms races and the Cold War as a kid...it didn’t feel like something that would ever affect me even though I knew there was tension. Perhaps I was too young to be scared. But lately I’ve been scared. There are madmen in power of powerful countries that would rather boast about their “buttons” than try for a little diplomacy.
Today I was faced with the realization that I may only have about 15-30
minutes to live. I didn’t know what to do. I yelled down to other
people scrambling in the parking lot of the motel I’m staying in to ask
if they knew where we should take shelter. They didn’t know and they had
the same worried look I did. One man tried to call 911 only to get a
busy signal. An entire state didn’t seem to know what to do.
I called my mom because I didn’t know what else to do. The mainland US had heard nothing at that point. “Mom, there’s a ballistic missile threat on Hawaii right now and I don’t know what to do.” She could hear the shakiness in my voice. She asked if I had asked others at the hotel about what to do. As I told her, everyone else had blank faces when I talked to them and didn’t know what to do or where there was any kind of bomb shelter on the island.
After talking to my mom, I wondered if I should just stay in the concrete motel or drive to the nearest beach to be at a place that made me happy if this was my last few minutes on Earth. Those that know me, would know that ‘Adventure Girl Annie’
would want to be on the beach.
We shouldn’t live in a world where one has to worry about nuclear weapons. And we shouldn’t live in a country that has a president joking about the size of his nuclear button. These are real lives at stake...and today, for 25+ minutes, I thought it was mine.
I called my mom because I didn’t know what else to do. The mainland US had heard nothing at that point. “Mom, there’s a ballistic missile threat on Hawaii right now and I don’t know what to do.” She could hear the shakiness in my voice. She asked if I had asked others at the hotel about what to do. As I told her, everyone else had blank faces when I talked to them and didn’t know what to do or where there was any kind of bomb shelter on the island.
After talking to my mom, I wondered if I should just stay in the concrete motel or drive to the nearest beach to be at a place that made me happy if this was my last few minutes on Earth. Those that know me, would know that ‘Adventure Girl Annie’
would want to be on the beach.
We shouldn’t live in a world where one has to worry about nuclear weapons. And we shouldn’t live in a country that has a president joking about the size of his nuclear button. These are real lives at stake...and today, for 25+ minutes, I thought it was mine.
1 comment:
Marianne, you summed it up all too well: two crazy, arrogant, inhumane bullies. True! But understandable from N. Korea. NOT in the US. When will people stop accepting this outrageous behavior!
Post a Comment