Thursday, November 10, 2011

Climb That Mountain

Things didn't go as badly as we expected yesterday. The people here took the news that they would have to walk away from here rather than ride pretty well. They even dealt with the immediacy of the problem with reasonable aplomb. I think it gives them some focus to have goals after so long merely hiding away and worrying. Knowing the mountain of work ahead of them before they can even take the first step toward whatever unknown home appears to be motivating to some degree.

We're trying to work with the few local communities to make that unknown home a little less mysterious. None of my team know the area around here at all, so we've enlisted the aid of anyone and everyone within a three hundred mile radius to pass along what info they can. I don't have to go over the specs with you, we all know the drill for resources and shelter. It's good that we can farm out some of the leg work to others. I think they feel guilty that they can't take these people in.

The Bunker is big. Really, really big. I don't know what it was before it was turned into a shelter, but it has vast empty spaces that must have held something at some point. There are several areas that have never been explored, the doors leading into them locked and impossible for the folks here to breach.

They didn't have a Becky with them. Their loss.

She's working on making some of the inaccessible areas a little more user-friendly. Maybe there are more supplies in them or at least something useful. We have to explore any and all options, because our resources here are limited.

We have managed to come up with an idea for transporting supplies a little easier, though I don't know how well it's going to go over with the natives. I'll be bringing the idea, which Will, Steve, and I came up with together, up at the morning meeting in ten minutes.

I'm very cautiously optimistic. Few here seem happy with the fact they have to leave, and a disturbing number of people have openly (and loudly) expressed their desire for 'someone to help them' and for the 'government to do something'. I've explained to a few that there is no government to speak of, that we're on our own. That they are on their own. But some people don't seem capable of accepting the reality that there isn't anyone out there to save them. That they are going to have to buckle down, do the work, and save themselves.

Huh. That paragraph was supposed to be about optimism. I guess the truth came out while I was writing it. Put bluntly, I'm really only optimistic because less people in the Bunker are freaking out and wailing at the unfairness of it than I expected. It's looking like it will be difficult to convince a number of them to put forth effort, that they'd rather bitch and moan and talk about how hard it is.

Damn it. I want this to work. I don't want to see these folks fail, but I just don't know if most of them can overcome the shock at how bad the world has become to live through it.

My team concurs.

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