Distinguished Toastmaster
BUSINESS & BRANDING COACH . LIFE & LEADERSHIP STRATEGIST MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER SERVING ENTREPRENEURS &
MAIN STREET
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THOUGHTS ON KEEPING THE LIFE LIGHTS IN THE FACE OF TERRORISM (c) Carrie Devorah: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A local soft spot that was scouted, it appears, did the right thing when notified their building darkened ground floors were photographed as was the top floors of their building.The soft spot has kept their ground floor lights on, ever since, so far.

Now, there is a lot a lot of rhetoric on line by pundits offering opinions or pushing books or CDs or such. Or else they did a quick reboot on Wikipedia or fed off a poll from Pew or some government report or another, in order to fill the ever moving news cycle.

Practical suggestions are needed.

Here you go:
  • If you live in an apartment building in the area around a soft site, check with your building owner or concierge to find out what happens to the garage door in the event of emergency

  • While in conversation, ask them, too, what happens to the electric if things go. Some buildings have backup generators

  • If you have a disability or medical need, let the front desk know so they can let emergency responders know, if there is an emergency

  • While you’re at it, let them know if a pet resides with you. Better yet, even put pictures on a paper outside your door on the wall, listing what you have – 3 dogs, 2 cats and 1 partridge in a pear tree

  • Keep cash at home just be smart and don’t tell anyone about it

  • Have a solar radio on hand

  • Flashlights too

  • Somewhere off site let someone know details like                                                                                                                                             (i) your last  wishes                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              (ii) where all your important stuff is, you know, that stuff we aren’t culturally conditioned to talk about                                                  
  •                                                                                                                   
  • Let someone know who your dentist is. Yup, as gross as it is, dentists’ dental records do help determine identity of bodies

  • Let family know your phone provider. Yeah, they do let people know the time of the last call you made. I know, gross, it sounds. Truly, comforting? The bereaved live easier knowing little things like that

  • Yeah, and be wary of media and charities and lawyers and stuff like that. They have a real nasty habit of showing up pretending to be there for you. Get real. They are non-profits, many of them, making money or news. Fact is when news blows in another part of the world they are off to

  • Think twice about declaring setting up your own charity too, so soon. Fact is, the lesson from people who responded with broken hearts and best of intentions, the commitment can become burdensome over time. Besides, eventually, you want to be left alone, eventually. The ‘best of intention’ intentions have compliance and stuff to adhere to. Just remember, there is no decision you have to make today that cant be made tomorrow. And in that vein, too, trust no one with cash and gifts. Take a second and search online ‘charitable fraud.’ The list is endless

  • Social media, the elephant in the room. Yours or a loved one’s death is cash to identity thieves, to analytics and algorithms hogs. So, tribute sites? Nix them. Everything online is preserved and copied and shared in places the Google and other ISPs sorta haven’t been telling you, us

  • Leave a list of your social media footprint, and, your passwords if you think you can trust your executor

  • Leave a notarized permission slip for your executor to manage your sites, and or shut them down. Oh yeah, emails too

  • Wear a medical bracelet if it applies

  • Don’t rule out good old fashioned pencil and paper to leave next of kin contact data on you, somewhere, maybe even in multiple somewhere spots- purses, pockets, shoes even, left right or both. Remember the person finding you wont know you or where your loved ones are. Help them make the identifying task easier. Yeah, tattoos would be a thought but let's not

Most important, don’t forget to live while you are putting things in order in case you die. If we forget about living then they win.

Don’t let them win.

Just be smart with good rules for everyday in the face of a homegrown problem the USG released on the world, let alone in the course of daily doing things we do.