Not Just a Camp. Not Just a Tragedy. A Mirror.
This isn't just about Camp Mystic.
It's about 82 lives lost across Central Texas.
It's about 27 girls and counselors at an elite camp and dozens of everyday Texans whose names you haven't see in the headlines.
We've
heard the polished grief for Camp Mystic. We've seen the prayers, the
ribbons, the televised tears. And that grief is real. But so is the
silence around everyone else who died in the same flood --in the same
night-- just without the privilege.
Was this preventable?
Yes.
Meteorologists screamed warnings days ahead.
The National Weather Service issued flash flood alerts hours before the water rose.
But the systems meant to respond had already been cut, gutted or ignored.
FEMA funding slashed.
NOAA and weather science jobs eliminated.
Local counties, like Kerr, still lacked sires or river alarm systems even after decades of prior flooding.
And now? The same politicians who cut preparedness budgets are offering "thoughts and prayers" on camera.
Camp
Mystic is a sacred name in Texas elite circles. Girls of governors, oil
families, and even former first ladies have attended.
This summer:
~750 campers
~$4500 each,
Estimated $3.3-3.5 million in one session alone.
And yet, no real evacuation plan.
No sirens.
No weather-proof bunkers.
No required flood training.
Just prayers and hope on a river that's flooded before.
In 1932. In 1978. In 1987.
This was known.
And still, kids were sleeping in cabins on the banks.
While the nation grieves the girls at Mystic, 41 other Kerr country residents also died.
They weren't from legacy families.
They weren't in matching Mystic uniforms.
But they mattered.
RV families from Odessa, gone.
A 92-year-old swept from her attic.
A father-of-four drowned saving his kids.
A beloved camp director from a different girls' camp, lost
No headlines. No hashtags. Just grief.
While politicians bickered, Mexico sent firefighters.
Yes, Mexico sent trained first responders across the border to help rescue Americans.
Why? Because they know what community means.
Because
some of the bravest acts that night came from two young Mexican
counselors who rescued 20 girls, wrote their names on their bodies with
Sharpie in case they didn't make it.
Let that sink in:
The same country demonized at our borders just saved our daughters.
We failed these kids.
All of them.
Nor just at Camp Mystic, but across the Hill Country.
We failed the RV family.
The old woman.
The teacher.
The father.
We failed the weather scientists who warned us.
We failed the responders who did not have the resources.
And we failed the Mexican heroes who won't get headlines but gave everything.
So no. I'm not in the Mood to Be Witty
Because this wasn't a tragedy. It was a choice.
A choice to ignore science.
A choice to protect profit over planning.
A choice to treat some deaths as national news and others as statistics.
We can't claim that "nobody could have known."
We did know.
We've known for decades.
We just decided it wasn't urgent.
Until now.
If you're reading this:
Say their names, all of them.
Demand sirens in every river town.
Fund FEMA.
Fund science.
And never forget that when the river came, it didn't ask what color your skin was or who had money.
It just took.
(Note that the death toll is currently at 104 with 41 still accounted for. Roughly half of that number are children.)
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