But this expresses my sentiments.
From the Stratford Beacon Herald, October 29, 2005.
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Reprinted without permission.
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OK Fire away. As my friend Threedogs says,
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INCOMING!!!!!!
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It’s hard not to sound cold and unfeeling toward any victims of a natural disaster, but the truth is, it’s difficult to muster much sympathy for those Canadian tourists complaining about the way they were treated in the aftermath of hurricane Wilma.
Without question, the situation was bad.
The hurricane hit Mexico and its once-glittering resort destinations like Cancun hard, reducing many of the upscale hotels to ruins, transforming the white sandy beaches into a dirty strip of mud and debris and crippling the region’s infrastructure.
Thousands of people from Canada and around the world were stranded for days after the powerful winds and rain knocked out power, cut off the water supply and damaged local airports.
The smart tourists left the country even before Wilma hit, heeding the warnings issued about the potential impact of the storm which had been classified as the most powerful hurricane on record when it was still out at sea. The smarter ones stayed at home in the first place, wisely choosing not to travel during hurricane season to a region frequently hit by strong storms, despite the good deals usually available this time of year.
Of course, tourists are free, for the most part, to travel when and where they choose.
But they should be prepared for the consequences of their travel choices.
“It was horrific; we haven’t washed in six days,” one sobbing Canadian tourist said after stepping off a plane in Toronto this week. “We’ve been lying in feces, in urine. We’ve gone though the worst time of our lives. We gave our wedding rings away to get food and water.”
Others recounted similar tales of hardship and deprivation, and many pointed the finger of blame at the Canadian government for not acting more swiftly to help them get out.
We find that a little hard to swallow.
It’s a little like jumping the fence of the lion’s cage at the zoo and then complaining about being bitten or travelling to Baghdad and whining about being kept awake at night by the sound of gunfire.
“I can understand angry passengers, but one has to understand that this was one of the most devastating storms in the Atlantic basin ever recorded,” said Dan McTeague, Ottawa’s parliamentary secretary for Canadians abroad. “The entire infrastructure of that region is completely in shambles. To bring people back within 48 hours, criticism notwithstanding, I’m not sure there is anything that could have been done that we haven’t done.”
The fact that many of the tourists failed to list their names on Canadians Abroad, a voluntary online registry run by the Foreign Affairs department, likely made it even more difficult to provide them with help.
So while we can sympathize with those who had to suffer for days in unsafe and unsanitary conditions with no food, no water and no sleep, it’s not entirely fair to blame Ottawa.
Tourists who willingly travel to dangerous places during dangerous times, often against the advice of travel agents, have to accept some responsibility for the danger that befalls them, or at least accept the fact that natural disasters are unpredictable events that lead to unpredictable situations.
And rather than pointing the finger of blame, perhaps those travellers may just have to chalk it up to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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