As I sat in seemingly endless traffic jams and waited in slow moving lines to catch a flight out, I had time to think about how people behave both before and after a crisis.

Much of the gulf coast was struggling with the ravages of hurricane Katrina when Rita began spinning up to force-five strength. After Katrina, the nation had opened its hearts to the victims providing aid and shelter.

In Houston where tens of thousands of Katrina victims were being sheltered, the prospect of yet another catastrophe was almost too much to handle.

One Katrina victim I met was getting as far from Houston as she could, leaving what few possessions she had behind. She appreciated the kindness of strangers who had taken her in after Katrina, but just couldn’t take another disaster.

During the 24 hour prelude to Rita, the mood in Houston was clearly one of every person for themselves. Basic services shut down, no gas stations were open, food stores closed and everyone hit the road. The evacuation by highway was somewhat orderly until cars started dying in the 100 degree heat or running out of gas, then it was a free for all.

We were stuck in traffic for 5 hours just trying to get to the airport, normally a 40 minute ride. Everyone seemed content to just creep along until one person jumped into the break down lane and took off. Then all hell broke loose until some brave soul in a pick-up truck blocked the lane forcing everyone to move back into line.

So here we were hours before yet another huge potentially disastrous crisis and people are behaving like self centered fiends, only looking out for themselves, while post crisis reports about Katrina showed mostly caring and charity. Clearly humans have the capacity to behave both ways, but sadly it appears that we have limited capacity to change our behavior based on even the most recent experiences.

How are these observations relevant to Hawaii you may ask? It seems that just a few short years ago, Hawaii was suffering an economic demise the result of a host of disasters affecting our tourism centric economy.

The war in Iraq, a burst housing bubble, the decline in Japan ’s economy, 911, another war in Iraq and the threat of SARS. Yet look at us now.

The economy seems to be booming, people seem to be getting astronomical prices for their homes and condos, tourism is strong and all is well.

But history has shown that another disaster could be looming just around the corner that could stop tourism in its tracks. Whether it is Avian flu, unbridled debt, a hurricane, a tsunami or terrorism, no one can predict.

The lesson that we can learn from recent events is to start preparing now. We need to start helping each other before the next storm hits. That means bolstering the economy by growing the science and technology sectors, improving our schools so we have a better educated workforce, and moderating our greed in the housing market by assuring the availability of affordable housing.

Let’s not wait for the next crisis to happen before we act.

Let’s pull together now and do what needs to be done to secure a stable future for Hawaii.

Bill Spencer is the President of the Hawaii Venture Capital Association. This editorial is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Hawaii Venture Capital Association or its Board of Directors.

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