specious present

The great thing about living in a place visited by a natural catastrophe that's been widely reported: calls and emails from out-of-towners from whom one rarely hears. Thanks to you all for checking in, we're fine.

I'm actually more bothered by how quickly we resume "normal life" than by the precipitating event, now that the water line is dropping. No, not bothered... bemused, struck, bewildered, sobered. I just wonder how much else we fail to extract the full meaning of, when we can so quickly turn the page on a thousand-year flood. For better or worse, we've learned to live in the specious present. Better, probably.