John in Texas wrote a great piece about Lessons Learned from Hurricane Ike. He wrote that his neighbors have ignored the hazards of a hurricane, and that his wife still believes the money spent on a generator is a waste of money.
In a somewhat similar experience, many years ago, while living in the Chicago area, we had a winter in which we had a tremendous amount of snow. Tired of shoveling the white stuff, I purchased a snow blower during the next summer. The following winter we had an unusually light snowfall. One day, while my co-workers were laughing at me for wasting my money, I asked one of them if he had life insurance. The man nodded. I then pointed at him and laughed, saying, “You must feel like a fool, spending money on something you haven’t used. What a waste of money!” Then I asked if he had health insurance, and if he was disappointed that he hadn’t had a major medical issue for which he could take full advantage of the insurance.
I’ve tried to explain to others that the idea of insurance, preparations in this case, is not something I want to use – it’s there just-in-case. If we never use our inventory of supplies in an emergency, great! If we do need them, then. – Dean C.