The
Montebello Ostrich Farm
If you watch Huell Howser on PBS, you might have
learned that ostriches are raised in California.
Does Montebello have an ostrich farm?
No. But somebody might say that we were acting like ostriches.
As were most other communities in America.
Though hurricane season is
underway and September has been designated National Preparedness Month,
fewer than one in 10 Americans are prepared for an emergency, the American
Red Cross says.
In a recent poll conducted
for the Red Cross by Harris Interactive, the vast majority of people have
yet to compile a disaster kit, make a plan and get informed, three steps the
charity says are critical to preparedness.
Of the Americans who do
have a disaster kit, nine in 10 say they feel prepared, poll results say,
but fewer than three in 10 people have yet to purchase or compile a kit. ...
Overall,
almost two in three Americans have no evacuation plan, the poll says.
From Philanthropy
Journal, September 17, 2007.
If you answer the
multiple-choice questions below and e-mail to lessonanswers@mymontebello.com
with “Lesson answers” in the subject field, you will be credited toward
a “certificate of recognition in community affairs” to be awarded in
2007 by a local nonprofit organization.
1. Why analogize us Montebelloans to ostriches?
(a) We have buried our heads in the sand when we should be doing
something.
(b) Drinking milk has resulted in each succeeding
generation being taller than its predecessor.
2. Knowing that this online lesson would have little effect on
anybody doing anything, how do we motivate Montebelloans to prepare?
(a) We make an urgent presentation to our city council.
(b) We create a local currency so that we have money
and we hold a prize-awarding contest to select the best prepared
neighborhoods.
3. Why should we make the effort to become prepared for
emergencies, in light of all the other issues vying for our attention?
(a) Doing so keeps our neighborhoods from devolving
into anarchy because some unprepared people, in desperation, would demand
at the point of a gun that we share our emergency supplies.
(b) It would be foolish for us to expect that FEMA, the
American Red Cross, and others would immediately arrive and save us.
September 27, 2007