Riding The Storm Out
Somewhere in the world, my buddy
Slick just exclaimed, "Last song people!" Cue REO Speedwagon and one nasty wind.
Wednesday’s storm proved to be quite interesting. I worked a little late that evening and left my office shortly before seven o’clock. I had been unaware that a storm was brewing, but Mrs. Grisby called to inform that some weather was headed our way so I should make haste home or perhaps sit tight until it passed.
I chose option A and headed north. As I approached North Hennipen Community College, the power at the traffic lights went out. No problem, Minnesotans tend to be courteous, so each driver waited his or her turn before proceeding. Looking out my window to the west, I observed a wall cloud moving in at a good clip. I kept a vigilant eye on it as I waited and noticed a spiraling, wispy finger descending from the underside of the cloud. I didn’t see any rotation, but I thought to myself that it could be the formation of something ominous. The lighting display that accompanied this cloud was truly a sight to behold. I've never seen anything like it in my life. At times it was so bright, that I'd inadvertently blink. It was as if the clouds were at war with each other. Spectacular.
I approached the 610 corridor preparing to hop on, when the sky grew much darker and the wind picked up significantly. Rain began pelting my car and visibility was next to nothing. I briefly considered pulling off the road, but thought, “If I can just get on the highway, the storm will be at my back.”
I navigated my way onto 610 and kept the needle a hair above 65. It continued to rain hard and visibility was a little better but not great. The neighborhoods to the south of the highway were without power. It is interesting to drive through the city, in the dark and have it be, well dark. At any rate, those familiar with this road know that it veers sharply north while crossing the Mississippi River before resuming its East/West course. As I neared the bridge, I wondered what the wind would be like. The geography of the river is such that I thought it could act as a wind tunnel, which would make crossing the bridge interesting.
The cross was pretty uneventful with the exception of some debris blasting into the sides of my car. I wondered where it came from. Coming off the bridge near East River Road, the pavement was dry and the winds subsided. I thought to myself that I must have been keeping just ahead of it. By the time I exited on University Avenue moments later, the wind and rain had caught up with me.
I proceeded north with a fair amount of anxiety. I turned on 105th Avenue, noticed that the gas station had lost all of it’s enumerative signage, and pretty much lost what remaining visibility I had left. I hit the
Brights and proceeded to my street. I made the turn and again, the winds were viciously pelting my car with hail and debris. Having a canopy of mature trees above me, I prayed that none would fall on my head as I navigated the street to my house.
I made it home in time to watch my neighbors to the west lose power. The family was in the basement waiting for me. After awhile the storm ameliorated and we put the kids to bed, and then went to inspect the damage. Fortunately for us there was none. Those at the end of our block were not so lucky. The water was about four feet high and virtually every mature tree at the end of my street was lost. Houses were damaged. The streets were blocked with the mighty throng of fallen oaks and elms. A few blocks further away-the homes were utterly destroyed. If you live locally, these were the ones you saw on the news.
It turns out, that the day after the storm,
The National Weather Service determined an F-2 tornado came through the hood. I ended up with a forced day off from work (no power) so the family and I went to inspect the damages. I can’t even begin to describe it. This was a time where I wish I had a digital camera. At any rate, utter chaos. The Mrs. worked hard not to cry. There is a silver lining however, even in this. Everywhere you looked neighbor was helping neighbor. And from the stories coming out of our church this was happening all over the north metro as well. I know we met some people in our neighborhood that we hadn't known previously, which is always a treat. The way people pull together in the face of disaster is a great thing about America and is truly a Christian ethic.
Afterward, we made way for Costco to fill the van and gather some food staples. Apparently, there was enough wood and debris on our street that by the time we made it to the store, the van had a flat tire. Of course I didn’t notice it until after we had purchased our supplies, e.g., cheese & milk. You know? I was utterly happy to contend with that flat. It could have been so much worse.
Click here for more on the storm. In the meantime I'm on the hunt for pictures.
Progress?
One great thing about living in today's modern world is the gadgets. One crappy thing about living in today's modern world is the gadgets. Certainly, technology can be a great tool, but it can also be a great waste of time.
Regular readers have probably noted the addition of a new word to my vocabulary arsenal, namely that of margin. I am currently reading
a book by the same name, and am finding it to be both interesting and alarming. It is not within the scope of this post to review the book in its entirety, but suffice it to say, the author, Richard Swenson, makes strong arguments for the etiological underpinnings to the increase in health problems within our culture. As a physician, he is pretty well qualified in making such claims, and the good doctor backs up his assertions with hard data.
In a nutshell, the problem is the pace of life and essentially because technology enables us to do more in a shorter period of time, we in fact, do more and feel more harried. The prescription becomes carving out and protecting margin. So dear readers, as
Cloud & Townsend commend, get used to saying no and reclaim your life.
At the center of my world-view is humankind's need and dependence on the one true God. We/I need more margin in life to contemplate the things of eternal significance. I am reminded of Joshua 1:9, which exorts the reader to meditate on God's law day and night. We need time to do this, to experience God more fully and know Him more intimately. Meditation necessitates margin. I can't say it any more plainly.
But today's world is all about progress and to that end, we
get this. That's right! The bible for the too busy for God folks. In this day and age, like all others that have preceeded it, shouldn't we seek after the whole counsel of God? Don't we need MORE of God's Word as opposed to less?
I think I'll pass on this little, soon to be bestseller and stick with my study Bible and commentaries.
A Perfect Moment
In keeping somewhat in step with a previous posting, I am compelled to write of the joys that come when life is lived in the margins as opposed to the center of the page.
The family & I stole away for awhile this past weekend. My mother is on vacation in Detriot Lakes, and we drove up to spend the weekend with her at the resort. It's a nice place, right on the water, and with the cooler lake breezes, it was quite a nice spot.
We met a nice, young family in the condo next door, and the kids enjoyed playing together. My children were intrigued by the mammoth fish (northern pike) the neighbors had caught, and of course this lead to the need to do a little fishing ourselves. Daddy, anticipating such a moment, was prepared with the requisite equipment.
And so, Saturday morning was spent sitting on the dock, basking in the sun-casting and reeling, not particularly mindful of whether or not we would actually catch anything. After some time, my children grew weary of fishing. My son, went off to play elsewhere, while my eldest daughter climbed up in my lap for a snuggle. She spent the better part of the next hour there, as we threw bread crumbs into the lake and enjoyed the view, as schools of perch jockied and tusseled for the doughy morsels.
It was a delightful moment, full of wonder and conversation. I hope she is able to remember this moment, and when she does, smile at the thought of her old dad, holding on to her for dear life; all-the-while knowing that moments like these fade to quickly into the seemingly important obscurities that comprise adulthood.
Of course it is necessary to live responsibly, to meet obligations, and all that. And of course, it is equally important to be present for the big stuff, what my friend Kathy would call the "mile-marker moments." This certainly is true, but I, for one, purpose to carve out more such moments of the margins, because when strung together, these make up the really important things in my life. In fact, these are probably the moments that matter most.
Katrina & America's Underbelly
Often I read the
conscientous blog of a regular Pundits commentator. Her September 2nd post captures the sentiments I believe many Americans are experiencing-myself included. Why didn't people leave? Why didn't others offer assistance when they clearly were capable of doing so? She goes on to cite a warning from one of my favorite columnists (NY Times: David Brooks), who portends further political recriminations.
Interestly enough, a regular reader of this blog forwarded me an article from the same date. This takes an interesting approach to the disaster & I thought a worthwhile read. I've included it below.
An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State
by Robert Tracinski
Sep 02, 2005
It took four long days for state and federal officials to figure out how to deal with the disaster in New Orleans. I can't blame them, because it also took me four long days to figure out what was going on there. The reason is that the events there make no sense if you think that we are
confronting a natural disaster.
If this is just a natural disaster, the response for public officials is obvious: you bring in food, water, and doctors; you send transportation to evacuate refugees to temporary shelters; you send engineers to stop the flooding and rebuild the city's infrastructure.For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild.
Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists - myself included - did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder, and looting.
But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster.
The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong.
The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over four days last week. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view. The man-made disaster is the welfare state.
For the past few days, I have found the news from New Orleans to be confusing. People were not behaving as you would expect them to behave in an emergency - indeed, they were not behaving as they have behaved in other emergencies. That is what has shocked so many people: they have been saying that this is not what we expect from America. In fact, it is not even what we expect from a Third World country.
When confronted with a disaster, people usually rise to the occasion. They work together to rescue people in danger, and they spontaneously organize to keep order and solve problems. This is especially true in America. We are an enterprising people, used to relying on our own
initiative rather than waiting around for the government to take care of us. I have seen this a hundred times, in small examples (a small town whose main traffic light had gone out, causing ordinary citizens to get out of their cars and serve as impromptu traffic cops, directing cars
through the intersection) and large ones (the spontaneous response of New Yorkers to September 11).
So what explains the chaos in New Orleans? To give you an idea of the magnitude of what is going on, here is a description from a Washington Times story:
"Storm victims are raped and beaten; fights erupt with flying fists, knives and guns; fires are breaking out; corpses litter the streets; and police and rescue helicopters are repeatedly fired on. The plea from Mayor C. Ray Nagin came even as National Guardsmen poured in to restore
order and stop the looting, carjackings and gunfire....Last> night, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco said 300 Iraq-hardened Arkansas National Guard members were inside New Orleans with shoot-to-kill orders.
"These troops are...under my orders to restore order in the streets," she said. 'They have M-16s, and they are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will."
The reference to Iraq is eerie. The photo that accompanies this article shows a SWAT team with rifles and armored vests riding on an armored vehicle through trash-strewn streets lined by a rabble of squalid, listless people, one of whom appears to be yelling at them. It looks exactly like a scene from Sadr City in Baghdad.
What explains bands of thugs using a natural disaster as an excuse for an orgy of looting, armed robbery, and rape? What causes unruly mobs to storm the very buses that have arrived to evacuate them, causing the drivers to speed away, frightened for their lives? What causes people to attack the doctors trying to treat patients at the Superdome?
Why are people responding to natural destruction by causing further destruction? Why are they attacking the people who are trying to help them?
My wife, Sherri, figured it out first, and she figured it out on a sense-of-life level. While watching the coverage one night on Fox News Channel, she told me that she was getting a familiar feeling. She studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Chicago, which is located in the South Side of Chicago just blocks away from the Robert Taylor Homes, one of the largest high-rise public housing projects in America. "The projects," as they were known, were infamous for
uncontrollable crime and irremediable squalor. (They have since, mercifully, been demolished.)
What Sherri was getting from last night's television coverage was a whiff of the sense of life of "the projects." Then the "crawl"-the informational phrases flashed at the bottom of the screen on most news channels-gave some vital statistics to confirm this sense: 75% of the residents of New Orleans had already evacuated before the hurricane, and of those who remained, a large number were from the city's public housing projects. Jack Wakeland then told me that early reports from CNN and Fox indicated that the city had no plan for evacuating all of the
prisoners in the city's jails-so they just let many of them loose. [Update: I have been searching for news reports on this last story, but I have not been able to confirm it. Instead, I have found numerous reports about the collapse of the corrupt and incompetent New Orleans
Police Department; see here and here.]
There is no doubt a significant overlap between these two populations--that is, a large number of people in the jails used to live in the housing projects, and vice versa. There were many decent, innocent people trapped in New Orleans when the deluge hit-but they were trapped alongside large numbers of people from two groups: criminals-and wards of the welfare state, people selected, over decades, for their lack of initiative and self-induced helplessness. The
welfare wards were a mass of sheep-on whom the incompetent administration of New Orleans unleashed a pack of wolves. All of this is related, incidentally, to the incompetence of the city government, which failed to plan for a total evacuation of the city, despite the knowledge
that this might be necessary. In a city corrupted by the welfare state, the job of city officials is to ensure the flow of handouts to welfare recipients and patronage to political supporters-not to ensure a lawful, orderly evacuation in case of emergency.
No one has really reported this story, as far as I can tell. In fact, some are already actively distorting it, blaming President Bush, for example, for failing to personally ensure that the Mayor of New Orleans had drafted an adequate evacuation plan. The worst example is an execrable piece from the Toronto Globe and Mail, by a supercilious Canadian who blames the chaos on American "individualism." But the truth is precisely the opposite: the chaos was caused by a system that was the exact opposite of individualism.
What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to
a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. And they don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men.
But what about criminals and welfare parasites? Do they worry about saving their houses and property? They don't, because they don't own anything. Do they worry about what is going to happen to their businesses or how they are going to make a living? They never worried about those things before. Do they worry about crime and looting? But living off of stolen wealth is a way of life for them.
People living in piles of their own trash, while petulantly complainingthat other people aren't doing enough to take care of them and thenshooting at those who come to rescue them-this is not just a description of the chaos at the Superdome. It is a perfect summary of the 40-year
history of the welfare state and its public housing projects.
The welfare state-and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and encourages-is the man-made disaster that explains the moral ugliness that has swamped New Orleans. And that is the story that no one is reporting.No doubt, at the time of this article's publishing, this particular story was not being reported. Now that the hysteria in Katrina's wake has died down a bit, others are taking more a more objective look at the chaos, the reporting, and responsibility. If your confidence is still rattled--take heart! The elected bureacrats are about to spend tens of millions of our hard earned tax dollars to 1) congratulate each other on his/her self-importance and 2) to create mountains of paper that will result in effectively zero positive outcomes, except of course, for the creation of more bureacracy. That, my friends, is the job security that come from prudent money management!
A poem for the week of September 12th
Solitudeby Alexander Pope (1688-1744)Happy the man, whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground.
Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire;
Whose trees in summer yield shade,
In winter, fire.
Blest, who can unconcern'dly find
Hours, days, and years, slide soft away
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day.
Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mixed; sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please
With meditation.
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.
Minnesota's Jewel
It is unfortunate that this great state is so often associated with the Mall Of America. I recently returned from my annual pilgrimage to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with my buddy Mark. In my opinion, it is one of the greatest things about this state. In fact, I feel so strongly about this point, that I never want a year of my life to pass, where I don't experience the beauty of this unique environment.
Consider for a moment the pace of your life. How much margin do you experience? Solitude? Between work, family commitments, radio, television, Ipods, and reading this and other blogs, how much quiet reflection is built into your life? If your like me, not enough. In fact, the pace of life, sometimes feels a bit out of control. Well, let me go on record right now, that I resolve to be more intentional about carving out space in my life.
Sunday, Mark and I had an extremely light day. By light, I am referring to the portaging required of us to get to our intended campsite for the night. What a beautiful campsite it was, grassy with a smooth rock landing off the lake. Directly across from our site a stream rushed over a myriad of rocks into the lake below.
After several hours of foraging, sawing, and splitting wood, Mark & I headed across the lake to explore up-stream. Our exploration, lead us to conclude that spring waters probably allow for the shooting of this stream with one's canoe. Not to mention, the rock bed near the base was worn smooth, undoubtedly by these spring waters.
After exploring awhile, Mark & I sat on a stone shelf near the mouth of the stream. When there were no more words to speak, we just sat there, silently drinking it all in-reflecting on the immense beauty of God's creation and enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of the forest. I was compelled to pray. This repose lasted for probably an hour, whereby my prayer was intermingled with brief periods of napping.
As the sun began to set, I arose from the rock shelf feeling refreshed in such a way as to be nearly indescribable. I need more times like this in my life. I hadn't realized how depleted I had become. It was an hour for the soul.
This trip I experienced the howling of a pack of timberwolves, was serenaded by loons, watched the majestic flight of the bald eagle, saw the playfulness of finches, grey-jays, and wood ducks, & had the privilege of crossing path with a beaver, who decidedly punctuated his thoughts on our meeting by slapping his tail forcefully on the water. Of course there were the usual suspects, as well (field mouse, deer, etc.).
God I love you all the more for this place.
Hail to "The Chief"
While I knew Chief Justice Rehnquist's health was deteriorating, there was still an element of surprise upon hearing of his death this past weekend. This is a man who served on the Court for practically all my life (all but 2½ years). He is one of only two Chief Justices that I remember. More importantly, this is a Justice who played a major role in the development of American Jurisprudence. He will be sorely missed.
My favorite story about Chief Justice Rehnquist tells us just how brilliant this man was. During his confirmation hearings for Chief Justice in the 1986, Rehnquist was putting on an amazing display of legal knowledge. He was basically lecturing the Senate Judiciary Committee on the finer points of Constitutional Law. He wasn't letting anything slip. If a Senator made an incorrect statement, Rehnquist corrected them. Intellectually, he was on fire. But, he was coming across a bit flat from a personality point of view. During one of the breaks a Republican Senator slipped him a note saying that he was doing great, but that he was coming across a bit flat and asking if he could be a bit more personably to the committee. Rehnquist responded that he would try, but that it was difficult due to the fact that he was on a great deal of pain medication for his back. I am always amazed at that story. Despite being doped up on pain medication for his back, Rehnquist was still able to put on an astounding intellectual display.
He truly was a brilliant man.
I'm an Elephant, not a Goat
I was joking the other day. I posted a comment on another blog about Hurricane Katrina. I poked fun at the "aluminum foil hat" crowd stated that Karl Rove was actually responsible for the Hurricane hitting New Orleans. Then I corrected myself. Since Bush and Cheney are "oil men" they diverted the Hurricane into the Gulf of Mexico so oil prices would go up and they could line their own pockets. I was having a little fun poking fun at my party. Yes, in addition to having Karl Rove transmit Republican talking points to us in our sleep via the tiny chip that we all have had surgically implanted in our heads, Republicans can also control the weather through use of our special weather control machine (although we have only figured out how to create bad weather ... give us some time). But I was just joking. Little did I know, however, that I wasn't that far off.
Almost all of
Hugh Hewitt's show on Wednesday was devoted to hurricane stories. It focused on the relief effort and the tragic stories coming out of New Orleans. It was positive or at least as positive as hurricane news can be. Unfortunately, this was not the case across the political spectrum of talk radio. A couple times I checked out the left only to find that they were criticizing the President's response to the hurricane and discussing what a mess FEMA is because of improper appointments by prior Republican administrations. Whether true or not, I really don't think this is the time for such discussions. If it was next week, I probably wouldn't mind as much. But, this is just a bit too soon.
Now its one thing to criticize the administrations reaction or a government organization that might be mismanaged. But, surely, the left would not say anything similar to my joking comments. (Don't call me Shirley.) Although it took a little different avenue than I had humorously suggested, I have started to hear it. Many on the left are starting to say that the Republicans are responsible because of our stand on environmental issues. It isn't the same as our weather control machine, but it is just as absurd.
Now hurricanes are cyclical. There are years with high numbers of storms and years with low numbers of storms. Now while the earth may be warming, there are numerous additional factors behind the numbers. So to insinuate that because Senate Republicans failed to ratify the Kyoto Treaty during the Clinton Administration, Republicans caused the destruction of New Orleans is pushing it.
Let's just assume, for argument, that all of the left's science is correct. How long would it have taken to implement the Kyoto Treaty? Such a vast overhaul would have taken years. Of course while pollution emissions are being reduced in the U.S., China and numerous third world countries are continuing to pollute. And even if everything could have been implemented between 1997 and 2005, howmany years would it take to put the brakes on any warming and actually reverse the warming? I'm thinking it wouldn't have happened overnight. So, even the adoption of the Kyoto Treaty wouldn't have saved New Orleans.
Of course, the left would argue that there are numerous other examples and its still all the Republicans fault. They seem to think that the symbol of theRepublican party is the goat instead of the elephant.
