While Americans are distracted by gay athletes coming out of the closet and ice skating scoring controversies at the Olympics, people in Syria have other things on their minds.  This is a picture from Damascus the other day when thousands turned out to get food packages handed out by the UN.

This is not a movie set, this image has not been Photoshopped, this is reality for countless people in Syria.

How bad is it?  You can read more by going here but words scarcely describe the magnitude of this humanitarian disaster.  Given Syria’s recent history, the suffering and repression are going to continue for the foreseeable future.

While the Syrian Civil War is an extreme example, it illustrates how quickly society can break down and degrade into savage conflict.  Less than three years ago, Syria was a peaceful, albeit repressive, nation that was reaching out to the West.  Top Gear even did a Boxing Day special where the three presenters went through a good part of Syria on their way to Bethlehem.  All this seems a distant memory now as the civil war drags on and the suffering continues.

Things can change quickly, which is why its best to be prepared.  Its impossible to adequately prepare for a civil war, however it is possible to be ready for less deadly and prolonged events.  The good news is winter storms, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters have a limited duration and are largely survivable.  The same holds true for man-made disasters like industrial accidents, water contamination, gas leaks, structure fires, and others.  Knowing that bad things can happen quickly and unexpectedly is an important step in becoming better prepared.  That way you can take action to mitigate the impact of life’s unexpected events.