Reflection on Maria
It all happened with a bang. The power of my house went out, the windows began to shake, and the sound of the booming thunder and roaring winds filled every room of my apartment. From the rushing winds to the down pouring rain, all these beautiful and powerful sounds of nature, all of that coming to a rough stop as soon as it started.
Once the storm passed, it left behind a new and different Puerto Rico in its wake. But this new Puerto Rico wasn’t good, it wasn’t the beautiful island it once was, this new island was something perverse. Everything that the storm touched was destroyed leaving debris in its trails. I saw people doing lines for places with food, water, and ice that stretched for miles and lasted hours upon hours for them to not receive anything since they either closed shop or they ran out of stock. You could also see many others doing the same lines but this time for gasoline, or as I liked to call it, liquid gold, as the value of a gallon of gasoline could sometimes be compared to that of a bottled water in the hottest of days. I knew that this storm was going to test my will as well as my strength as a person, a son, a grandson, and as an individual.
With the passing of the storm many new problems aroused from it. One of them happened to me after the passing of the hurricane, one of the drain pipes that helps the water flow from the roof of the apartment to the ground got clogged and instead of the water flowing down the pipe it began to flow into our floor. For the next four hours my father and I had to grab mops and towels to try and control the overflow of water that was caused by both the damaged drain pipe and the downpour of water caused by the hurricane.
An important aspect that I learned about myself is that I am quite a capable caregiver. My grandmother has Alzheimer’s and she’s also bedridden. Since there was no electricity on the island her nursing home had to temporarily close. We had to take her in and take care of her since she’s bed ridden and all. So basically, until her nursing home gets power again, I’ll be a college student as well as a nurse. Working with a handicapped person is challenge, especially one who’s bedridden. They have to be fed, cleaned, and taken care of in every single way. That has been one of the hardest things that I’ve had to do. When I first started taking care of her I was surprised on how easy the nurses made it look. For instance, moving her from a bed to a chair was a two-person job. She would stiffen her body which made her weight of 80 pounds multiply by two.
During the storm one of my main concerns was the safety of my friends. I didn’t have any sort of communication with them. My mind would always wonder to the worst outcome possible, even though I know deep down that they are fine but still those always lingers in my mind. My best friend, who has a generator, main concern was getting gas, since he was part of those that had to do an hour-long line to get some gas, just to have a little a bit of power and normality again in his house. He was such a good friend that he let me charge my electronics in his house as well as giving me cold water. Even now that I have yet to get electricity in my house he offers me his house to sleep with air conditioner.
Works Cited
Pittmann, Cynthia. Narrative essay on Hurricane Maria. Class assignment UPRRP. 28 Nov. 2017.
I think that from all the damages cause by Maria losing communication was one of the worst. Just like you, I was concerned about the people that I care and not having communication to check on them just made the situation a lot worse.
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