The first draft of history is being written about The Great Flood of 2023 or whatever we’re going to call this one. It’s all about doughty Vermonters stepping up in the face of adversity, banding together as communities, helping each other working day and night, and generally being the very definition of noble, selfless Vermonters.

There’s a lot of truth in that narrative. But.

Well, two buts. First, I’m not sure how different we are from anywhere else hit by a devastating event. Did the people of the Hudson Valley turn their neighbors away? Did the emergency responders in New Hampshire clock out at 5:00 after putting in an eight-hour shift? I don’t think so.

Second, and this is the big one. The Great Flood of 2023 should be the bellwether event that forever lays to rest the polite fiction that Vermont is immune from the growing effects of climate change, that this lovely little theme park is uniquely blessed by God or the Gods or Mother Earth and if only we commit to preserving its every jot and tittle, the Vermont of our fond imaginings will go on forever.

Nope. The monster we have created is on the move, and it cares not for your precious Vermont exceptionalism.

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