Went With the Wind

We had quite a blow this week.

attribution below

Several tornadoes ripped through the region, tearing up trees and damaging property. 

For a time, trees blocked the road and power was out for hundreds of thousands of people. Mr. Ginley and I were extremely fortunate that our electricity wasn't affected, particularly since half our street lost power, as did many nearby neighborhoods.

There are two camps on FB. One is cranking about their service not being restored fast enough, and the other is telling folks to calm down because we had several tornadoes rip through the region, there's a ton of damage, and workers are laboring around the clock to restore power. 

People will be people, though, and it's in our nature to be most concerned with what's happening to us. Of course there are exceptions. There are those with chainsaws who went around and cut up trees or pulled them out of the street. Lowe's offered free ice and water to those whose power was out. And several of the libraries in the area reminded patrons that they have wifi access and phone-charging capabilities.

I suppose like any crisis, it brings out the best and worst in all of us. Patience is hard. Watching a refrigerator full of food go to waste is gut-wrenching. And not being able to see our favorite shows is a trial.

Still, there is good news. 

People didn't die. Trees were decimated. Stuff was broken. And inconveniences were rampant, but stuff gets fixed, trees replanted, and soon this will be a story for kids to tell their kids one day.

It all reminds me of one of my favorite Monty Python ditties.

Always look on the bright side of life...

Photo attribution: Stefan Klein, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons