To all the people in Texas affected by Hurricane Harvey:
We’re going to need you to stop.
We’ve heard your complaints, and seen the devastation, but you’re acting like you’re the only state suffering. Every time we turn on the television, there you are — with all your loss and sadness. (Let’s not even talk about the bad choices that put you in this situation.)
The truth is, all states have faced disaster, and by drawing attention to Texas, it’s like you’re saying that the other states don’t matter. But the rest of us want you to know that #AllStatesMatter.
I know Kentuckians in the past who’ve lost everything. Are you saying you’re more important than they are?
What about Californians and Michiganders? They’ve had their share of heartache, too.
Don’t you think making such a big deal of your hardship minimizes the pain everyone else feels? Every time a newscaster talks about this as a once-in-a-thousand-year storm, the rest of us get the impression that our own tragedies don’t even mean anything.
Have you ever stopped to consider that your complaining is just another instance of participation-trophy culture gone awry? You’re so used to having your homes and cars without four feet of water in them, you feel entitled. So, as soon as something takes that away, you start whining about how you need food and water and shelter — like you deserve those things, but Carolinians and Hawaiians don’t .
I suspect you’ll be quick to say that you’re not saying other states don’t matter, that you know #AllStatesMatter. But when you focus on Texas and its problems to the exclusion of other problems around the country, you’re saying other states don’t matter by definition. In fact, it’s the most egregious form of prejudice.
But we’re not going to take it anymore. Your constant labeling causes division. Left to you, every issue would pit Texans against non-Texans, storm victims against normal people. That’s not America — where one state’s calamity drowns out the misfortune of all other states.
Don’t you see how you’re tearing us apart? The rest of us pride ourselves on living in a post-Harvey world, where we treat everyone the same — where no one state’s needs rise above the rest. In our America, we don’t see “state citizenship” — we see only people. And if all states are created equal, then your insistence on monopolizing the Weather Channel and cable news oppresses the rest of us who don’t live in the path of hurricanes.
And can we talk about how your constant appeals for help put people in danger? Folks from all over the country hear about what’s going on, and they head down to east Texas with their Bass boats and their canoes, looking to save lives. They expose themselves to these horrors because of you. Don’t you feel like that’s selfish, like if you didn’t say anything at all these people would have just stayed home and remained safe? What do you tell the children of a Floridian who was only trying to help, but who winds up dying because of your single-minded emphasis on your own problems?
I hope you see how reckless this is. I mean, how are we going to deal with important things like preserving Civil War statues or cutting taxes for wealthy people if we’re preoccupied with cleaning up your mess.
So, please stop thinking only of yourselves for a while. After all, it’s been like two weeks since the hurricane. How long are you going to use that as an excuse to live with the disrepair? The rest of the country has known hardship, but we don’t have our living room furniture out by the side of the road.
We feel like we’ve been patient, waiting for you to get your houses (literally) in order. So now it’s time to stop, and move on.
Thanks you,
Everybody else #AllStatesMatter
A version of this post was previously published on medium.com and is republished here with permission from the author.
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Talk to you soon.
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Photo credit: istockphoto