Tornadoes

Two days ago, I was in Kansas City, Missouri.  You don’t need to know why I was there (because training told me not to disclose such information on the internet).  But around 11:15 am, I heard strange siren-type sounds.  Now, because I used to live in south Florida (and because I paid attention during our “Natural Disasters” series in the 4^th grade), I remembered that these particular sirens were tornado sirens.  So I looked around the room to see if anyone was going to do anything.  But everyone just ignored it.  I noticed the weather outside was…menacing.  But, if the locals didn’t think it was a big deal then I wasn’t going to be the pretentious East Coaster who said something.  Finally, someone came on the PA system and announced that we all needed to make our way to the basement due to tornado warnings in the area.  Ok.  Now I’m curious.  “Does this happen a lot here?”  “No, this is the first time we’ve actually had to go the basement in the 5 years I’ve been here.”  Cool.

We sat (actually, we mostly stood considering the room was packed) in the basement of that building for an hour.  We got no updates, no information, and barely any cell phone service.  Well, I managed to send a few tweets out, so I guess there was enough cell phone service.  During this time, I spoke with a woman who lived through Katrina.  She did…not her house.  And after Katrina, she moved to Kansas City.  I asked her, “Are you worried about the tornado?”  She said to me, with a completely straight face, “One thing I’ve learned…it’s just stuff.”  As in her home, her belongings, her car…it’s just stuff.  And I thought to myself, “God bless this woman.”

If you haven’t been alive for the past month or so, tornadoes have been ripping through Middle America.  Before Wednesday, the latest was Joplin, Missouri (about a couple hours south of Kansas City).  If you’ve seen pictures, you’ve seen that these things literally tear houses apart.  Wood on top of wood.  They’re like scenes out of post-Katrina.  The difference between a hurricane and a tornado is that tornadoes are quicker, cover smaller areas, and you don’t have a day or two’s notice to get out of town.  They literally spring up, touch down, destroy, and disappear.  They’re basically like hit-and-run natural disasters.  And I couldn’t help thinking of all the people who would lose their “stuff” in an instant.

I finally made my way back to DC after an hour detour to avoid the storm (see map for details).  And when I got home, I took a shower, had a glass of water, and went to bed.  Imagine, something so simple that thousands of people wouldn’t be able to do that same night.  People who I may have met that day. 

 

The moral of this story: don’t hold on to anything on this earth too tightly…even people.  Because if you can’t live without it, you may end up having to.