Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Tornadoes -- death & destruction
Reflections on the storms from 2 March? Were you impacted? Does watching the impact on others make you reflect more seriously on death & dying? Does watching the assistance rendered to those who lost much make you reflect on human nature? Thoughts, comments, observations?
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I have to say that while bad weather does not make me all that nervous, I do stayed glued to the television. Seeing as I do not live in a tornado prone area, (I live on top of a hill surrounded by many others) and the fact that a destructive tornado has not hit close to home in close to fifteen years, I find it more fascinating than I do scary. I do not want this to sound morbid, though.
ReplyDeleteThe events of March 2, 2012 are ones that will not be forgotten by our area for a long time. These tornadoes hit anywhere from 20 to 150 miles away from my house to the west, south, and east. My house was not in immediate danger, but I have several family members who were in danger. My cousin, her husband and their children live in Piner, Kentucky. When they saw the weather, they took cover, and by the grace of God, they were not harmed. One hour later, they surfaced from their basement to find that every single house around them was severely damaged, if not leveled. Miraculously, however, their house only lost a few shingles and one piece of siding.
Personally, I have not been able to visit any of the tornado ravished areas yet. But, I do hope to help as much as I can. I feel that watching and participating in the clean-up efforts helps with everyone’s moral, those affected and those who were not directly affected. Seeing the amount of people that have stepped up to help collect donations, pick up yards, donated money, etc., is absolutely amazing and I feel it shows the respect we have for other humans, whether we know them or not.
Fortunately I was not harmed nor was any of my family impacted by the damaging storms of March 2nd. I typically do not pay any attention at all to the weather and rarely worry about the weather. However, one of my former players that lived in Piner, Kentucky completely lost his home. After hearing this my outlook was totally different. I was able to lend a helping hand to his family with several donations of food, clothes, and money. I will now take these things a little more seriously.
ReplyDeleteI have always been afraid of tornadoes. During the tornado warnings I was actually at school about to play the first round of the NCAA tournament. The made us go into the locker room and stay there till it was safe. My family was not affected by the storm, but my boyfriends family was in the path of the tornado but no damage was done.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy to think that it only takes seconds to destroy a whole town. It hasn't changed my outlook of death, but has made me more aware of the severity of tornados.
As for human nature, I think it is incredible how people are helping out. I was inspired to help from seeing others help so I cleaned out my closet of clothes I no longer wear and donated them.
It is sad that it takes a tragedy to bring communities together sometimes, but it is reassuring to know that when it matters most people are willing to lend a hand.
March 2, while it was supposed to be a positive time as we at Thomas More kicked off our spring break, brought along horrific destruction for which no one was really prepared. Most natural disasters in our area seem to be gradual, giving us sufficient time to prepare and such; take floods for example. Fortunately, I was not impacted directly. A compassion-evoking aspect of the situation surrounds my neighbor’s uncle who, like so many in the midst of devastation, had a home in Piner, KY. The zipping winds consumed his entire house; while he was fortunate enough to have home owner’s insurance, many of his neighbors were not. What do these people do? Where do they turn? On the surface, we cannot even begin to understand the devastation this presents. People’s homes are their concrete, tangible personifications of the American dream—something they’ve worked all their lives for. As if losing one’s home isn’t horrible enough, losing possessions exacerbates the entire situation. The ultimate terrible aspect of the storms, undoubtedly though, is death. People whom just hours before were enjoying their lives were gone the next moment in an undoubtedly painful way. Pondering the awful connotations of dying in a natural disaster does indeed make me reflect death and dying more seriously. As if Americans aren’t desensitized to death enough, most deaths we think about are in hospice or in the comfort of homes… These poor individuals didn’t stand a chance and no comfort was to be had, thanks to the volatile nature Mother Nature can exhibit on occasion.
ReplyDeleteWatching the assistance people offer, however, restores my faith in humanity. People who don’t even know the victims have donated their time, talent, and treasure in order to consciously attempt to soften the blows made by the storms. People’s compassion, as they can hardly imagine what it would be like to endure such a situation, is remarkable. When thing such as this occur, it almost numbs us. Reflect on 9/11, though that disaster wasn’t natural. We almost all hurt inside because we by nature feel sorry for humans; after all, it could have been us in any of the situations, and in appreciation that we were spared, we feel as if all we must do is help. I guess humanity isn’t as bad as what the raps of some imply.
I was not affected by the tornado other than having a bunch of gravel wash out of my driveway and a few tree limbs fall. However, it passed within a couple of miles of my house and leveled a small town that is right down the street from me. I was in New Orleans when the tornado hit, so I really didn't have any idea that it was happening until people started texting me and asking if my family was alright. It was surprisingly scary to be 800 miles away and not know if your family got tornadoed. It was especially scary when I tried to call my parents, and their phones went straight to voice mail. Luckily they were alright, but it was a really scary feeling not knowing if anything had happened to them. I know a few people who were really badly affected, including somebody who had a large part of their farm destroyed. At some point in class we talked about memories of relatives as a part of maintaining their existence in the afterlife, and while I don't agree with that, I do think that memory is a powerful part of death and dying and dealing with people passing on. My friend with the farm had a several barns that had been destroyed, and his dad and grandfather had either built those barns together, or else they had been in the family for generations. Seeing them razed to the ground was a really rough thing because it also destroyed a lot of sentimental memories that the family had about their grandfather.
ReplyDeleteThis was probably the closest tornado encounter I have had yet in my life. There have been several times where we did go in the basement for safety, but the funnel clouds never touched down near my house. However this time the main stream of storms that was creating the tornadoes was headed straight of my home town of Florence, which is only 20 minutes from TMC. During the storm I was not worried because I was still on campus and the sirens were not even going off in our area. Luckily Florence was spared for the most part and my family was safe. The aftermath footage really hit me though, it was devastating. My uncle that lives way out in Piner got a picture of the tornado several miles down the road that got close to demolishing his house. He used to have a small forest surrounding his entire back yard, after the storm almost all of the trees were leveled. He said it was the scariest experience in his life. I always thought it would be kind of cool to see a tornado in person, but now after seeing its destruction when it almost hit close to home, I have second thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI live in Walton, KY which is only miles from where the devastation took place. I am very fortunate that my house was untouched. However, a lot of my good friends that I went to high school with werent so lucky. One of the homes was a farm where their whole lives revolved aroung the farm and horses, and everything was taken away from them. I work at Skyline and as I was talking about everything that had happend to a co-worker, a very friendly customer chimed in and said he would love to help, and so he reached into his wallet, and gave me 50$ and trusted me to give it to a family that needed it most. I was so shocked that he would trust me with such a task, and of course I contacted a family that needed help and gave them the money and they were very grateful. Unfortunately it takes a disaster like this to make the community come together, but at least they do come to help when it is needed.
ReplyDeleteBut there were people out there that weren't so lucky, and one particular case stood out to me, which was that of the baby that was lifted and tossed into an open field and survived! The rest of her family was killed. This little girls name was Angel. She was hospitalized and died shortly after, as the family left decided to take her off of life-support. My prayers go out to that family and many others that have been affected.
I have driven through Peach Grove, KY several times in the past week and the devastation is unreal. Homes completed flattened, roofs gone, piles of garbage everywhere. A close friend of mine lost her home and just recently got moved into rental property. The most amazing thing to see, however is the amazing outpouring of help to the community. My friend was brought to tears last night when talking about all the support that she has been shown. It is such a blessing to drive through Peace Grove and see the crowds of people coming together to clean up the disaster. This reveals to me that human nature has a deep tendency to help others and meet the basic needs of their fellow human beings. This event has led me to believe that most individuals have a deep compassion for those struggling and in need, and it is such an encouragement to see this good in the world.
ReplyDeleteHere is a video of the destruction in Peach Grove. So thankful that everyone is alive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDMdZsD_s0Q
The morning of the severe and life changing tornadoes was not much different from any other day. Most everything seemed normal and the warnings of the severe weather heading into the area seemed like nothing more than a statement.
ReplyDeleteAfter the storms had finally subsided it was incredibly heart-breaking to see all of the people whose lives have been affected begin picking up the pieces to try and put their lives back together. It is such a sad event but I find it humbling as well. I am reminded that there are some things for which we just have no control over. All that we can control is our response to it. Through these types of events we are reminded that we really do not have all of the answers. Why did this happen? Why were so many people affected? The things in life that matter most cannot be purchased or built. A $40,000 house looks no different than a $300,000 house after a tornado destroys them.
I enjoy bad weather because it is a time to sit and do nothing however seeing the people effected by the tornados was sad. Not being from around here the day after the storm I had family calling to make sure i was ok. I was nice to know that people in my family knew and wanted to check in. I is also nice to see all the aid rendered to the towns that were flatend and the homes that were destroyed. It is nice to see that human nature is good enough to reach out to those they do not know in a time of need
ReplyDeleteIn this area, I think a lot of us remain disconnected to natural disasters that occur in other places (Japan, New Orleans, Haiti), because we don't see it much. As sad as it is, I think sometimes these things are good as a reality check for us. This tornado was horrifying to many of us who live in those areas and for those who don't the pictures you see are equally disturbing, but the truth is this pales in comparison to the disasters other people have suffered. The thing I think we need to take away from situations like this is that things like this happen around the world frequently and we need to respond to these disasters as if it happened in our own backyard. Due technology today the world has become a smaller place and we need to act like it.
ReplyDeleteI've never been one that worries about weather. But this tornado had me worried for my family. When they said that the storm hit Walton I was extremely worried. My sister and her two children live in Walton. Everyone turned out to be okay which was a big relief. I saw a news story about a man whose insurance card blew over 80 miles to another mans house. The man who lost the insurance card actually lost his home as well. The man returned the insurance card, but alsoa got many of his friends and family as far as Oregon to help this man out. I have not been able to help with any relief efforts but after seeing how big some peoples hearts are you realize that in today's society many Americans wll do whatever they can to help a citizen in need.
ReplyDeleteThe tornadoes in march slighty impacted some family and friends in ky my a family friend lost there home and it was very tough for us all to see but the family and us got toghether and helped clean up the disater. It didnt really make me think more about death because no one i knew had passed or was injured and it was just property and that can be replaced. It was very cool to see the community come out and give to those they dont know so much so that food banks and donations centers quit acceptting donations that was great to see everyone come toghether
ReplyDeleteThe tornados did not impact my family in particular, but the day as a whole was eye opening. My parents, sister, and myself were all in different places at the time and it was nerve racking not knowing where everyone was and if they were safe. Moscow was one of the areas that was hit hard and it is just 10 minutes from my house. I drove through the area a little bit after it happened and it was a sobering site. To see houses absolutely leveled was humbling and left me in awe of nature/God. It made me think more about my own life/death as usually that is the last thing on my mind. Seeing the outpouring of people that are rallying around these towns to help show that human nature as a whole is to help those in need.
ReplyDeleteThe storm did not affect my family and I, but it did affect our society deeply. Hearing about it was shocking and very sad. All I could think about was how someone was going through a normal routine and just like that their house is destroyed and more than their house being destroyed many lost their loved ones. I almost felt selfish after hearing about how all the tornadoes damaged many houses and families. All I was worried about that day was playing basketball. I was mad that our game was delayed for a couple of hours. After realizing all the damage and losses I was ashamed how I acted and realized how precious life can be. I now treat life differently. You should always live life to the fullest because you never know how short or long your life can really be.
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