September 28 blog: “Plans are Worthless, but Planning is Everything”

Dear Friends: 

"Plans are worthless, but planning is everything" is apparently a military aphorism most notably quoted by Dwight D Eisenhower. It's a good one.

I learned this lesson most clearly from 9/11. A little over 21 months earlier County leadership and first responders who had trained for years for “Y2K” were at the Emergency Operations Center on New Year’s Eve 1999. All were on high alert. Chaos had been predicted as computers worldwide would be unable to change the date having never been programmed for the 21st century dates. And….nothing happened. It seemed to some that all that local preparation had been for nothing. Some felt a little foolish.

But months later on 9/11, all the planning and relationships built to handle Y2K, kicked in. The cooperation across departments and jurisdictions was far better than it would have been without Y2K and other preparations. First responders and leaders were not meeting for the first time at a disaster site. They knew each other and what each could do. The plans for Y2K were worthless, but on 9/11, the planning and advance training was everything.

The professionals in this region are well prepared for unexpected emergencies, certainly for those that are contained, but I’ve long thought that regular people are not. Arlington County has helpful information on its website for emergency preparedness.

Today we are in more uncertain times than I have ever experienced. Planning for the unexpected feels more important than ever. There are so many threats and now so many vulnerabilities created by the current incompetent federal regime; it’s hard to know what to plan for. Huge storms, cyber-attacks, electrical grid outages, another pandemic, the list goes on, but, one thing is clear: not all emergencies are as neatly contained as 9/11.

Therefore, personal planning for the unexpected is more important than ever, but remember that personal planning includes considering your neighbors. A strong community is probably the best resource in any emergency. Looking at various websites on emergency preparedness can be overwhelming. But planning doesn’t have to be. Just thinking through possible scenarios is helpful to suggest what you might do to prepare for emergencies and to become somewhat comfortable with what might happen, so shock doesn’t prevent good thinking when the unexpected happens. What do you do if your cell phone doesn’t work?  If something is going on, but the internet is out?  If you have to leave where you are quickly? What about your family, your pets?  Have you connected with your neighbors?  Do you know who might need help?  I always start with the basics:  water, food, light sources, shelter, protection, communication.

The easiest way to think about it is to plan for what you would need for a camping trip (shelter, food and a way to cook it, light source, safe water to drink or tablets to make it so). But remember that it’s hard to know what to do in an emergency if you do not know what is happening. How will you stay informed? The best technology is likely mid-20th century (paper maps, battery operated radio and batteries, HAM radios if you can operate one). Think through plans if you cannot reach family members. Is there a gathering point? Do you have addresses and phone numbers if you don’t have your phone? Do you have cash if ATMs are not working? If you need to leave home, do you have paper maps if there is no GPS and an idea of where you might go and what to take. Is there any medicine you cannot do without? I have started a “grab and go” list. Pets, children and the elderly make all these plans more complicated.  But it’s far better to face an emergency if you’ve thought through the basics. And it’s far better if you have an immediate community for mutual support. Here is a link to my Board presentation in 2023:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUfsg1FpBOY: start at minute 23:18.

As my long term readers know, this is something I have talked about over a lot of Septembers now. My presentation from the 2023 County Board meeting is still pretty relevant. The Arlington website is helpful. If you are in a position to help others, consider volunteering for CERT, Citizens Emergency Response Team. One new tool not mentioned that I now recommend considering is a small solar generator, the kind recommended for RV camping or emergencies. You get a small solar array to power it and even folks in apartments can use it, putting the solar panels on their balcony to catch the sun. Many people in Europe are doing this. If you’re interested, this video may be helpful. It will not power a lot, but it can keep things like phones, computers, modems and a light going.

On another note, Kerry Kennedy and Maria Shriver as lead organizers and Hands Off the Arts, among other nonprofits led the charge to protest the Kennedy Center’s closing. Let’s give a big shout out to the thousands who turned out to support the Center on September 18. It was an impressive turnout and got a lot of good press, which is helpful for the nation to see.

Finally, those of you who are appalled by the proposed “Arch de Trumpf” (likely every single one of my readers) may want to respond to the call for public comment, which you can easily do at home. It won’t change the current trajectory, but it’s good to have a public record of massive disapproval which the press can cover. And which, maybe one day, will be used to stop the construction or tear down whatever they manage to erect.

To comment, you have to email Jaime Loichinger, Director of the Office of Federal Agency Programs, at https://www.achp.gov/about/offices/ofap/staff and jloichinger@achp.gov before the end of the day tomorrow September 29th.

As always, I hope this information has been helpful. Please consider forwarding this to someone you know who may like it, whether they live in Arlington or not. My readers have grown from a little over 800 to almost 900 over the past year or so, and I think that’s nearly all from my readers sharing this blog. Thank you!        

Yours in peaceful resistance, 

Libby