Toughing It Out, However

THE HUGE TORNADO which devastated Moore, Oklahoma a couple of weeks ago, it turns out, was par for the course. Since 1999, three huge tornados have ripped through the city, and several smaller ones besides.

Moore, Oklahoma, it turns out, is literally in "tornado alley", just as surely as a stream is in a stream bed. When the Homestead Act was passed in 1862, when Oklahoma was made a state in 1907, and when the great oil boom took place from the 1920s through the nineteen sixties, nobody really paid much attention to this fact of nature.

All that mattered was the land, the oil, and the opportunity. Money talks, and in america, it screams. Now, with development and population increasing in Oklahoma like nearly everywhere else, the bill is come due, with regard to cost to oklahomans, cost to society.

the scanario is roughtly the same as what we are witnessing all over the world, with billion of people living on oceanfront property, in hurricane and typhoon alleys, huge cities being built in places where water is scarce, like los vegas and los angeles, huge citeis being built where there is too much water, like new orleans, and huge cities being built where earthquakes regulalry shake the land, like memphis and saint louis.

But you gotta live somewhere, right? Exactly where is a safe place to live, out of harm's natural way? Alaska? hawaii? Not quite, earthquakes and volcanoes... nature has no harm free free enterprise zones, she struts her stuff no matter where we live; just a little more stridently in certain places. In retrospect, it does seem a bit silly to have built a huge city in a desert like los vaegs, but hey, bugsy Siegel was one....determined...man, and the american people? Well...

Interesting is the various reactions of the brave folks in moore, oklahoma. Some are leaving, or have already left, or have announced their intention of so doing. they'v had enough, lost too many houses and friends, and just want a little peace and quiet.

Others are determined to stay, even if it means rebuilding three houses in less than fifteen years.
What they have in common is an undaunted spirit of survival, a determination to endure, and prosper, no matter what. And this, beyond all doubt, is the essence of the american spirit, of the human spirit.

to you brave people of moore, oklahoma, whatever path you choose, your courage is a remarkable, admirable example for us all, good luck whereever your destiny takes you, and may the dear lord bless and keep you.