Used To It

A week or so ago, I thought that I was perhaps feeling some tremors. I have gotten used to the experience of living someplace where there are earthquakes. I try to guess whether what I'm feeling must be an earthquake, or whether it's any of the very mundane things that feel something like a small earthquake. It's embarrassing to overreact, and so I try to ascertain the true facts before trumpeting it all over. I find this worthwhile.

If I think it's an earthquake, I check online. The United States Geological Survey has a good setup on their website. If they confirm there was a website, I sit back and say "Hm" with some thought. That's about as far as it goes for me. As I said, I have gotten acclimated to the experience, but I think that is not true for most people. I don't know a lot of people who have been in California all their lives, but I have to hope that they handle the earthquakes with some decorum.

That cannot be said of many otherwise reasonable, even educated adults whose acquaintance I have made. Their policy is to bellow with excitement or worry about the earthquake all over the internet without trying to ascertain the facts of it. I personally keep my thoughts on such matters to myself unless I think that there could be some use for them. There's so much noise out there, and so little signal. We all ought to be quiet unless we can help.

I'm hardly perfect where earthquakes are concerned. As I think I have said, I have little to nothing available as far as emergency supplies are concerned in the event of an emergency. I don't suppose that the other people are any better equipped though, so I think I can reasonably see myself as one up on them in the area of responding to earthquakes with dignity and sensible measures. Isn't that what matters? How I can reasonably see myself?