A few days after Hurricane Matthew made headline news that it was making its way out of the Bahamas and towards Florida's eastern shore, while families scurried to the stores to bulk up on necessities, millennials in Miami took it upon themselves to throw their infamous "hurricane parties."
Don't get me wrong, as a millennial I can always appreciate a good party. Yet as those in South Florida are partying their way through the hurricane, the families and individuals living just up the state are losing their homes to a plethora of floods.
Florida's governor, Rick Scott, addressed the state of emergency on a live broadcast by stating, "Don't take a chance. Time is running out. This is clearly going to either have a direct hit or come right along our coast and we're going to have hurricane-force winds. There are no excuses. You need to leave. Evacuate, evacuate, evacuate."
With only hours to spare, any of those who took seriously to Gov. Scott's warning began seeking shelter and storming through grocery stores in search of emergency items; water, non-perishable foods, flashlights and batteries. Then there were those who took advantage of the extra day off to stock up on beers and kick-back during the storm.
Not to rain on your parade but with the death toll in Haiti rising well over eight-hundred people, you could be putting your time and resources to better use rather than throwing a rager.
I'm not necessarily against the idea of partying frequently, except for instances such as this one. When the majority of the state is prepping for this natural occurring disaster, others aren't taking its possible consequences into account.
Thankfully South Florida didn't bear witness to the monstrous aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. Many of those people that invested in preparations in case of city-wide electricity blackouts were disappointed when after all of the weather predictions, Miami only encountered scattered rain showers. As I hear those grumpy and moaning about how little they were affected by the storm, the only thing that comes to mind is having the clear conscience that we were preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.
It's fantastic that the hurricane diverted from its foretold path and relieving to know that in the case that it had impacted Miami, we would have been prepared.
Stop proclaiming jokes onto online platforms about how the storm "barely affected us," for the sake of increasing audience.
These are real life occurrences seriously affecting those around us and we can do something about it.
Click on either of these links below to find out how you can help aid those affected by the treacherous outcomes of Hurricane Matthew:
https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/how-to-help-donate-to-hurricane-matthew-victims-us-caribbean-millions-affected/60575986