When it hits you.
Usually, I can distance.
"Hey, it sucks to be them. These things happen."
And they do. Happen, I mean. Tornados are pretty low on the list of things that kill us, nationwide.
But I watched this video, and found myself putting myself into the place of the parents looking for their missing child at the school, or of the teachers having to round up kids for a count.
And suddenly I'm in tears. And when I try to discuss the impact with my wife, she refuses to discuss the issue with me. So here you are, Internet: my raw and exposed nerve.
I ask you to watch the very short bit of raw video above, so that you will not do as I was doing last night and this morning, and distance with a flippant dismissal.
Those people are you and me. Their loved ones are yours.
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| They found her. From The Oklahoman. Retrieved 21 May 2013. |
Maybe you could text some, too. *
_____________________________
*"This has been a major disaster, and the Red Cross will be there for the people in this state and this community. People who wish to make a donation can support American Red Cross Disaster Relief, which helps provide food, shelter and emotional support to those affected by disasters like the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma and Texas as well as disasters big and small throughout the United States by visiting redcross.org, dialing 1-800-REDCROSS or texting REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation."
Labels: brooding, buzzkill, Children, death, in the news, One Nation, pictures, speaking of the weather, that's gotta suck, video
posted by Matt G @ 5:41 PM
6 Comments:
They survived a battle, with nature, but a battle... It's ALWAYS heartrending when children are caught in the middle... And it's dusty in here all of a sudden. Donation done.
No words. I am so very grateful for the early warning system. It saved so many lives.
Every day I go to the school, and I pick your youngest up. Teachers are directing kids to the cars. We wave and smile. I always grin when I pick her up. She is such a great kid. I teared over these photos, almost a caricature of normal. And like your wife, I haven't wanted to talk about it. Still sorting.
What a lot of happy families there were, overall. Wow. I try to imagine a mile wide, 17-mile long desolation we keep seeing, and it just stuns. A tornado that took the very grass out of the ground, the bark off broken trees. But most of the kids came out scared, whiny, glad to get to their parents.
Thanks for the phone number. Used it! Hope many of your readers do.
Wife has family in Oklahoma and Arkansas. This one missed, but others haven't. We were on I-70 between a large twister coming in from the SW toward Colby, KS, which was the nearest "shelter". Rode through the fringe of the storm, where you an't see the other side of the windshield. Closest I want to ever be.
OldeForce
Thanks for posting that donation-by-text info. It took only some 30 seconds to chip in a little. I wonder how much has been contributed in this manner. Ours is but a tiny drop in the bucket, but they'll add up, just ten bucks at a pop.
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