Having spent the last week experiencing two natural disasters its begs the question, which is the lesser of the two evils?  The obvious answer, of course, I wouldn’t want to be in either again but if I had to go through it again I’d have to say the hurricane.  Living in New Jersey I had thought we were immune to both,  but little did I know. Both events occurred well over a century; hence, leading me to hope and pray that we’ll be  free for yet another 100+ years.  But with the first, it was unannounced and although no damage the uncertainty remained for sometime after. With the hurricane, the ability to track it and mentally and physically (stocking up with food, having candles, batteries, etc.) made me think of it as the lesser of the two. Yes, the hurricane brought far more damage to the state than the earthquake with but we were fortunate that the hurricane weakened somewhat before coming. Despite this loss of property and all, I think many would agree that at least the ability to allow for evacuation and safe human lives was far more than any price tag that may result because of the hurricane.  In an ideal world we wouldn’t have to experience either, but unfortunately earthquakes, hurricanes and other such disasters are and will continue to be part of our world.

Sometimes better late than never may not be what you want to hear. For people in Indonesians who had to evacuate because of Mount Sinabung I’m sure that was the case. Hopefully, though after the volcano settles down there will be no cause for concern for another four hundred years. One has to be optimistic right?

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• Unwarned residents flee after Sumatra volcano erupts; one dead

This story really stresses how sometimes we are just where we are suppose to be. Oscar Rodriguez was traveling to LA on a bus when that bus collided into a pickup truck and crashed. Despite his injuries, Oscar “from an ambulance stretcher” helped translate for the paramedics. This eleven year old boy, is being hailed a hero by the firefighters for staying calm and brave. As we become more and more afraid of lending a hand, its good to know that our youth still understand the importance of reaching out and helping others. Way to go, Oscar!

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• Boy, 11, helps paramedics after Phoenix bus crash

I just read a story of the Desarmes family that after surviving the Haiti earthquake moved to Chile to be with their eldest son just to experience another earthquake. Wow! Can you imagine being in two big earthquakes back to back? I certainly can’t, but I can say this that this family is definitely one that is being watched over. I think they are thoroughly blessed and their story just reaffirms, to me at least, that their is a higher power and that one has to have faith. This is a feel good story that makes you understand that faith is a beautiful thing and that nothing in life is ever for granted!

I do understand that this story can be seen as a “glass half-empty” tale. That is that the Desarmes family are “followed” by disaster as one author titled their story; however, I don’t think that is true. It just goes to show how things look so different depending on how we step back to look at the story. That each person interpretation is solely his or hers. For me this is a yang story through and through, for others it may not be but that is how you chose to perceive it: I’d rather see the glass half full!

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• Resettled Haitian family in Chile rocked by second quake in two months

I have been researching homeschooling for sometime now but I never imagined that I’d ever see a story like this one. The Romeikes actually moved from Germany to the United States so that they could continue to homeschool their kids since it is illegal in Germany. The family has not been granted political asylum but what I like about this story is that it highlights a few things we take for granted. First, in the twenty-first century I think we have become so spoiled at having things handed to us that we tend to forget how lucky we are to have certain freedoms and one of those is how to raise our kids. In the US, we take it for granted that homeschooling is a viable option, but it’s not. There are many such options we have taken for granted and really it would be nice to people to sit back and just appreciate what we do have here and then hopefully get it back on track to what this nation was intended to be. Currently, it appears as if we just take things for granted not realizing that they are in fact a blessing.  I was reading my daughter’s social studies book yesterday and honestly I think we have forgotten why people went to great lengths to move to the US in the first place. Fortunately, people like the Romeike’s continue to remind us how grateful we ought to be for the freedoms we take for granted.

Let me add here that I do know that the Romeike’s also bring forth the whole issue of political asylum and whether or not homeschooling falls into that category of what traditionally people who are granted political asylum go through.  My post is not about that, I don’t know if this will bring forth a flux of people using homeschooling as a way to “flee” their countries – and most like this may be overturn because it pails in comparison to those stories we hear of true “torture.” For me, I just wanted to stress the  importance education is and the lengths one family is going.

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• Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Homeschoolers
• Judge Grants Asylum to German Home Schoolers
• German Family Granted Asylum in U.S. in Order to Home School