close calls

Several members of my family were (and are still being) pretty badly affected by Hurricane Ike.

Those living in Galveston were recently able to return to their house, only to find flood damage to about five feet. Photo albums, documents, and childhood memories were lost, along with all of the electrical appliances, including a fairly nice living room TV setup. They are currently living with relatives in Houston until the structure can be inspected for safety and salvageability.

Those living in Houston escaped with only inconveniences. For days, there was no electricity, paved roads were flooded, gas stations were out of gas, and many supermarkets were closed. Even now, millions of homes in Houston are still without power. The good news is that everyone is safe, has food and water, and is in good health.

After hearing the news, I was thinking it's not uncommon for disasters affect people only one or two degrees of separation away. For instance, I recently heard that a friend's mother was a regular commuter on the route of the train that crashed last weekend in Los Angeles. She in fact got off the train one stop before the crash.

Another friend was at home in Sri Lanka during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and barely escaped by clinging to a tree. Two of his other friends survived as well, but one was lost to the waves and never found.

And, of course, there were the 9/11 attacks. Living in California, I was less affected than many, but even I knew of some friends of friends who died on those airplanes. One of those cases was particularly sad: I was originally supposed to go to my second cousin's wedding that year, but it was postponed because her maid of honor was on Flight 11, on her way to the wedding, and never made it.

I'm not sure what this means. Are the people that I know are lucky (in the close call cases), or unlucky, or is the planet (or country) just that small? Maybe there are only one, two, or three degrees of separation, rather than six, for most of us in today's interconnected world.