something i've always wondered about
After following the progress of Hurricane Dean over the weekend and earlier this week, I was glad to see it stay away from the American Gulf coast, especially after the soaking that Texas suffered from Tropical Storm Erin. I have enough friends and acquaintances along the Gulf that the idea of a hurricane getting anywhere near Houston or Baton Rouge makes me nervous. Make that hurricane a cat-5, and I truly had knots in my stomach. Seriously...the only hurricanes allowed on the coast should be the ones that knock you on your tail from the alcohol content!
So I was relieved to watch over the past few days as the storm's track took it into Mexico, and away from Texas and Louisiana. You know what, though? Every time I feel relief that a hurricane or tropical storm has stayed away from somewhere, there's also a twinge of selfishness. Because while it means "my" people are safe, it also means another community was impacted, possibly harshly. It means some other community has to deal with the water, the wind, the loss.
It's like the hurricane-season version of "not in my backyard"...and I can't help but wonder what kind of person it makes me to be happy that some other metaphorical backyard besides mine (or that of my friends' or my family's) is now flooded and possibly destroyed.
Where I am: Lebanon, KY
So I was relieved to watch over the past few days as the storm's track took it into Mexico, and away from Texas and Louisiana. You know what, though? Every time I feel relief that a hurricane or tropical storm has stayed away from somewhere, there's also a twinge of selfishness. Because while it means "my" people are safe, it also means another community was impacted, possibly harshly. It means some other community has to deal with the water, the wind, the loss.
It's like the hurricane-season version of "not in my backyard"...and I can't help but wonder what kind of person it makes me to be happy that some other metaphorical backyard besides mine (or that of my friends' or my family's) is now flooded and possibly destroyed.
Where I am: Lebanon, KY
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