Gripe : ‘Stop Spelling <i> Home</i> With $ Signs’

Through the recent disasters, the media reports have been heavy with talk describing lost homes as “luxurious,” “seven-figure” or belonging to a celebrity. It is as though losing a home that has a “panoramic view” or one that “fronts on the ocean” is more tragic than losing one where the kids are triple-bunked and there aren’t enough closets.

Of course, it is a terrible blow for anyone to find the place where one slept last night suddenly under water or reduced to ash. Certainly, rich and poor alike suffer the loss of irreplaceable treasures--the photographs, the mementos, things that can’t be given monetary value but create the unique tapestries of each family’s life. Still, there are distinct differences in the displacement of the well-to-do and those who have struggled with down payments and mortgages or have years of sweat equity invested in their homes.

When disaster strikes, the wealthy have resources to quickly secure comfortable temporary housing for themselves, often in another dwelling they own, and they have money for any kind of help they might need, either physical or psychological. For the not-so-wealthy, the road back to normalcy is strewn with roadblocks. They usually must crowd in with friends or relatives, adding additional strain to their trauma. A beat-up automobile that was kept running by the owner’s regular tinkering must somehow be replaced--and quickly, if he or she is to get to work. Truth be told, most employers care only briefly that you have lost your home; their compassion will run out long before your nightmares stop.

For those of modest means, it is not a matter of having an accountant deal with all the forms or a lawyer reconstruct all the records. They must fend for themselves with insurance adjusters and government agencies, frequently coming out on the short end of the stick. These are the realities of disaster and recovery for the less affluent.

So how do we get the media to stop spelling home with dollar signs? How do we get them to soft-pedal sensationalism in favor of recognizing the other end of the spectrum of losses? I, for one, can do without the big-bucks superlatives. Show me the footage of the large and the small without price-tag commentary, please. Most people will interpret what they see and they will be reminded, as we all need to be occasionally, that nature doesn’t care how much money we have when it decides that conditions are right for a rampage.