Oftentimes I wake up to find the answers to many of my questions about life all around me, sometimes in the most unusual places, an article in Time Magazine about basketball coach Phil Jackson which led me to the cover of that issue and the story titled 16 Minutes about the Moore, Oklahoma tornado.
Sometimes my search for answers isn't so obvious to myself. The questions are in there in my head, and when I get an answer, I may or may not realize it. The times that I do realize my answer is staring me straight in the face are true epiphany moments. The times I miss out and don't realize it, are not lost. It seems I have many chances to try and understand the many questions I have.
So, the tornado story is shocking. When you are in shock it is hard to assimilate things, hard to understand what is happening. We take things in and file them away until we can better understand them, sometimes never to be taken out and analyzed again. The older we become the more we realize what is happening here in our mind, and we force ourselves to look at the hard facts. That is where the questioning begins. Why did this happen and how could we have let that happen?
This story is very close to me because I was just there! I was in Norman, Oklahoma for 3 weeks. I met people from Moore. I had driven through parts of Oklahoma before, but had never stayed to meet the people, see the sites and fall in love. I had heard all the stories about Tornado Alley and was a little frightened to stay there. First thing, when I awoke in the morning at 5AM was to turn on the weather channel. I asked everyone I met about tornadoes. Had they seen any? Had they experienced one? Any information they could give me might appease me. I always asked about shelters. Did they have a storm shelter at their home? Where do we go in the event of a tornado?
Many times to, my utter disbelief I found that there were no underground tornado shelters to be had! Okay, I reasoned, I come from earthquake country, and what, really, have I done to prepare for an earthquake? For some reason a tornado has always struck fear in me (could be from watching The Wizard of Oz as a young child) more than any earthquake has. I figured it was the same for them. They had been through all the drills, maybe heard of a few, but never really went through anything bad (similar to me with earthquakes). It was all relative, I reasoned. But that nagging feeling and fear, that threatened to grow into full-blown terror was a constant companion
We were relieved when we arrived home safely. I mean so many things could have happened. THE DAY we arrived home I heard about a tornado that hit right there near Norman, Oklahoma. It seems a flurry of action happened from that time until Monday, May 20th, 2013 when the big one hit Moore, Oklahoma taking lives and leaving utter destruction behind.
I have been in shock since then, but the articles in the Time Magazine moved me, finally, to say something. I cry for the loss of life, the pain and suffering. I could go on forever, and I mean forever about this, and the why's and how's of how it occurred. We live on a planet that is active and we KNOW about these things. I read in the 16 Minutes article that it is very expensive to dig basements in Oklahoma because of the clay and frost. I say NOW, that if I lived there, THAT would be the first thing I would do, dig a nice big tornado shelter, but would I? I mean I stayed there 3 weeks without any type of safe shelter from THAT fateful day's tornado. I just can't believe any building would have been safe in that tornado.
The other article about Phil Jackson was moving as well. He was asked if he believed in God. He said he did, but he was not so sure that we are using that word in the right context. He said that is was about following the moment, being in harmony with the moment. That really hit me. He talked about how LOVE is important in winning, that we have to protect each other, that we have to move outside of ourselves and think about others!
I tie these two articles together because they impacted me greatly. I grew when I read these. Questions were answered, but new ideas and even more questions abound.
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| A typical cloudy day in Norman, Oklahoma. |
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