A poignant photo that sums up the tornado aftermath.....

[Are_grits_groceries]

Trenton, Ga.:Andy Page cried as he sits with his cat in his demolished apartment.

:-(
That cat is a link to his sanity.

[rubberducky]

1. How heartbreaking.

[lillypaddle]

2. The misery and suffering wordwide

this past year, have been unbearable to contemplate.:cry:

[malaise]

3. Too sad

:cry:

[femrap]

4. The dude has

his cat....I would be grateful and happy as hell. Stuff can be replaced. WTF?

[moriah]

5. So a person should be *grateful* that they are homeless?

I'm sure he's grateful to have his cat.

But he's not allowed to grieve over the fact he has no home to put that cat in and that the cat probably won't be able to stay at most shelters, etc? Maybe he's crying because his cat is having to be locked in a cage instead of being able to have two or three rooms?

I'd be grateful I was alive and my cat was alive, but suggesting that the gratitude for those things means he can't cry over the massive change that has occurred in his life is a bit much.

[Name removed]

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[moriah]

11. Okay, so people who aren't as stoic as you suck?

I didn't insult you or call you "buttface", so please kindly stop with the insults. I didn't insult you.

I'm very sorry you lost your home. I'm even sorrier that you lost your cat.

But what if this person couldn't afford renter's insurance? Some people can't, this was an apartment and not a house after all so insurance was not required or factored into the rent. There are "things" that are worth far more than their value and are irreplaceable without insurance anyway. I know I would cry huge tears if I lost the only pictures I have of my father (he died in 2009). Yes, I'm trying to get them all scanned in but since I don't own a scanner it's a bit less convenient.

[cordelia]

6. Cold. Did you stop and think for one brief

moment he may have lost something other than "stuff".

Inhuman.

[Name removed]

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[Brickbat]

9. Maybe he had two.

[femrap]

28. copied and pasted from

reply to CatWoman (Guess I was the only one who took the actual time to find out about this young man's situation....all the others...now ignored....just enjoyed kicking me and NOT finding out some facts. I'm really starting to detest DU and the small-minded who have invaded.)

ETA: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/apr/29/death-to...

Scroll down toward the bottom. I googled his name and hometown and found this....reads as if most (if not all) of his cats survived. At least I hope so. Appears he is a student....a young man capable of caring for himself and cats. I didn't have too much in the way of material goods when I was in college so I hope he bounces back easily. He seems to care for his cats more than material goods. And it looks like he has friends helping him through the remains of his apartment.

Maybe he'll report on his My Space which I saw he had. I'm not much for Social Networking....animals aren't on-line, unfortunately...lol!

[donheld]

12. -10000

[femrap]

17. Geez....

you folks certainly are materialistic. He's alive. His pet is alive.

My house burned down and I lost my pet. I cared nothing about material crap...guess you folks do! I had insurance....paid for insurance all my life. It paid for a crumby hotel room until I could rebuild.

'Things' can be replaced.

I do miss photographs, but I still have memories.

[Phoenix63]

19. Well he's got his cat so he should be happy..

Even though he probably has no way to feed it. Even though he's a young kid living in an apt and probably has no insurance. His car is probably gone, his job, he has no place to sleep tonight, he probably has little if any savings, and at the moment very little hope.

But hey he should be fucking singing and dancing because when it happened to you you had insurance and were put up in a hotel.


Unbelievable.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

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[blondeatlast]

21. So you didn't lose any mementos, treasured personal items?

How fortunate for you. Bless your heart (as Andy might say).

[CatWoman]

14. you know

if that happened to me, and I was able to be reunited with my beloved cats, I'd have the same attitude.

I don't know what I would do without them.

One can always replace "stuff".

You can't replace your beloved family and children. My cats are my children. Even the feral ones.

[femrap]

23. Thank you, CatWoman....

of all the responses I got (nice jump-on) you're the only one who 'got it.' I would give anything to have my dear cat back.

F*ck Stuff. I had insurance, lived in a crumby hotel until I could rebuild....If I hadn't lost my cat, I could have been spared so many tears and depression. It was horrible w/o him. Just horrible.

Geez....who are all these MATERIALISTIC DUers anyway? Just more to add to the Ignore List....I deal w/ enough greedy, consumers IRL.

ETA: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/apr/29/death-toll-storms-climbs-78-region/?print

Scroll down toward the bottom. I googled his name and hometown and found this....reads as if most (if not all) of his cats survived. At least I hope so. Appears he is a student....a young man capable of caring for himself and cats. I didn't have too much in the way of material goods when I was in college so I hope he bounces back easily. He seems to care for his cats more than material goods. And it looks like he has friends helping him through the remains of his apartment.

Maybe he'll report on his My Space which I saw he had. I'm not much for Social Networking....animals aren't on-line, unfortunately...lol!

[Occulus]

16. "I would be grateful and happy as hell."

Well, then.

May you have the same experience.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Maru Kitteh]

31. You've had so many of your comments deleted due to personal attacks. Why do you think that is?

[inna]

32. "Another bothersome gnat." - Dude. Do you even hear yourself?

It must be the stress or something; you really should self-check and at least re-read your posts before you hit the "post message" button.

[Maru Kitteh]

34. +1

[Lars39]

25. So *your* house burned down.

There was a nearby motel you could go to, a Taco Bell you could eat, relatives you could visit at their house, a church you could worship if you so wished, a fire station that responded to your fire, a police station who probably sent a car, too. This man lived through the most traumatic thing that has probably ever happened to him. He also lost his neighbors and neighborhood, the community with it's motel and Taco Bell. Good chance that his nearby relatives also lost their houses and possibly their lives. Fire stations and police stations were also wiped out, so things are extra chaotic.

The scope of this disaster goes well beyond just one house burning.

[femrap]

29. Your so very right.....my disaster

was nothing....of course you know nothing of this man's nor my experience because you're unwilling or incapable of looking for some facts. No relatives....if I had, would I have stayed in a crumby motel. No police. A volunteer fire crew. You don't know if he lost any friends/family/neighbors....do you? All you seem to do is use your imagination and say 'probably this' and 'probably that.'

He's a student....his family could live anywhere.

'Just one house burning.' Talk to me after yours is in ashes.

FYI:

ETA: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/apr/29/death-to...

Scroll down toward the bottom. I googled his name and hometown and found this....reads as if most (if not all) of his cats survived. At least I hope so. Appears he is a student....a young man capable of caring for himself and cats. I didn't have too much in the way of material goods when I was in college so I hope he bounces back easily. He seems to care for his cats more than material goods. And it looks like he has friends helping him through the remains of his apartment.

Maybe he'll report on his My Space which I saw he had. I'm not much for Social Networking....animals aren't on-line, unfortunately...lol!

ETA: Don't bother responding....I no longer deal w/ posters like yourself. Seems you've lived a disaster-free life....count you f*cking blessings.

[Lars39]

38. I wasn't pointing out that your disaster wasn't as disastrous as his.

I was trying to get across to you the scale of the disaster. You need to look at the bigger picture...the before and after satellite images and the pictures of the disaster up close. People's entire worlds have been changed forever.

[blondeatlast]

20. Bully for you. The man lost his home--and you know what? there's probably stuff in it

that CAN'T be replaced.

Photos, mementos, treasured books, I could go on.

[AsahinaKimi]

7. Reminds me of another photo I saw recently...

[pinstikfartherin]

13. This is the one that got me..

http://confessionsofalymie.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/may-god-have-mercy/

Picture #2

[laundry_queen]

15. Wow. no words. nt

[likesmountains 52]

27. Wow, now that is one powerful photgraph..thank you

[Maru Kitteh]

36. Does anyone know the story behind that photo? Please let that baby be sleeping.

Please? :cry:

[Are_grits_groceries]

30. Everybody reacts differently.

Bully for those of you who would be fine as frog hair if this happened to you, and you could be happy with that situation. It's good that you can handle it that way.

Finding the cat probably helped a great deal. However, going through that type of trauma is enough to make a lot of people cry even if they had less damage. This may have been the first moment he had to actually stop and try to take in all that happened. He was probably dazed and doing all he could. Pure relief over being alive with one buddy would make me cry.

I don't begrudge anybody tears about what happened to them. I hope I would just sit beside him and put my arm around him if I was his friend.

I appreciate the link and knowing more about him. That in no way changes my mind about allowing him his relief and grief after his world was "blowed away" as we say here.

For those of you who would tell him to 'buck up' it's only stuff, I have one thing to say:
"Bless your hearts!!"

[inna]

35. +

well said.


(what a thread. wow. :shrug: )

[Maru Kitteh]

37. perfectly said n/t

[Garbo 2004]

33. Is anyone seriously suggesting that someone shouldn't b upset when the place they live is destroyed?

Do we have to know the particulars of someone's specific situation so we can judge for ourselves the worthiness of a loss, the appropriateness of someone's feelings, before we can measure out degrees of compassion, or none at all?

Perhaps this fellow was relieved at finding his cat and simply emotional after the search and rescue amongst the ruins. Is that a worthy emotion for him to have if such is the case? Or is he, to some, simply materialistic, crying over a ruined iPod?

In this case, it appears to be tears of stress and relief at finding at least one of his lost cats among the rubble, after a tornado destroyed his residence while he was in it.

After hours of searching, Page heard a meow that led him to Ellie, his pet of three years. She had been hiding near the mangled bathtub.

Tears ran down his face as Page cuddled her carefully.

“We are lucky — we both have jobs and no one was hurt,” said Taylor, who has joined the Marines and is waiting to be called for duty. “But you don’t know where to start picking up the pieces.” http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/apr/29/trenton-and-dade-county-2-killed/?print