Whirlwinds, Tornadoes, and Hurricanes

Disasters plaster the front pages of newspapers, magazines, and the internet.  They flood the airwaves on radio and television, and they change our lives.  If we experience them third-hand, most people acknowledge their presence, let out a big sigh, and sympathize, thinking sadly for a while about how others' lives have been negatively affected.  Only a rare handful reach out.  If we experience them second-hand, then we feel for the relative or friend who has lost a home, property, or their livelihood, and we run over to help if we can, call if we don't, and start to take the disaster to heart.  But if the disaster happens to US, to ME, then we are standing there, wading knee deep in the clutter and chaos surrounding us.  We don't sympathize, we don't feel, we are caught, sometimes in moments of paralysis, because now it's personal.

In a sense, my children are forces of nature to be reckoned with.  They have expertly worked their way around every child proof mechanism known to man.  My daughter, having just turned 2, figured out that the way to unlock a chained door was to take the doorknob and slowly jiggle the door back and forth until the chain came out of the slot.  My children play wholeheartedly, giving it everything they've got, and when they're done, the room, or the entire house, for that matter, is a total disaster.  It looks like a tornado has hit the home, only there is no insurance to cover it.  They've pulled out all the toys, they've torn up all the paper from a fit when they didn't get a craft right, they've broken glass, they've left the sink running so long that it caused a mini flood, written on the walls with pencil, crayon, marker, and numerous other media.  They've broken windows, stuck holes in the wood furniture by stabbing it with pencils.  They've taken Moon Sand and thrown it up in the air as if it were pixie dust that lands all over the carpet.

They've tried to help wash dishes and ended up getting dishwashing liquid all over the counter tops while the water runs out of the sink with suds overflowing.  They've tried helping mop the floors with the Pine Sol and emptied the whole 3 liter bottle on the linoleum.  They've helped fold the laundry by taking OUT the laundry that I've already folded and turned it into a wadded up mess.  They've taken toothpaste and squirted it on the carpet to try to clean up a stain they've made with marker or paint.

I know it seems asinine to compare the messes my children make with that of a full blown disaster such as Katrina, Haiti, or the Oil Gulf spill, because I really do know that my troubles are nothing compared to the way these lives were devastated.  But to be honest, as a mother, I sometimes look at the combination of messes my children have made and just stand there, because I'm at a loss of what to do first.  Do I clean first or do I discipline?  DO I discipline?  Or do I acknowledge that in some of these areas, they truly were just trying to help?  I beat my head in frustration because there are days I don't know if I will EVER get this mess and clutter cleaned up, especially with the lively Tornadoes running on Energizer batteries.

But then time passes and I step back.  I see the whole picture.  I've got hardwood floors where there used to be carpet.  I got the hall painted...where I wouldn't have been able to reach.  The floor got mopped, the dishes and counter tops got cleaned, the carpet was shampooed, and the walls were cleaned.  The laundry did eventually get folded and put away, and broken toys were thrown out (they have too many anyway).  Something positive DID come out of it, though maybe not the way I wanted.  I didn't want to have to go through these mini storms in order to get something checked off my list.  But these storms are what allowed them to get accomplished more quickly.

The oil spill in the Gulf?  Seems like it was a battle between the forces of human nature versus those of nature itself.  The forces of nature won.  I'm not an expert, so I can't say what was or wasn't done right.  I only know that for whatever reason, the oil well would not be contained.  It screamed to be released and pushed with all its might until it won the battle and....it did, and many livelihoods are at stake.  I don't yet know what good will come of that spill, but I am anxious to see how, in the end, we are made stronger.

Katrina was a huge disaster; the coastline from Louisiana to Mississippi was devastated.  Parts of Haiti were demolished.  Many people lost their lives.  But the people fought back against the damage of these natural forces.  They banded together, and they found their will, their tenacity, and they found their strength.  They didn't just give up.  They fought back to become a community again.  Just look at all the reports of the new parks and restoration going on in New Orleans alone.  Watch the results of people pouring in hope, finances, and time in Haiti.  Forces of nature can be intense, they can be fierce, and they can be devastating.  We protect ourselves as much as possible from them, and we respect them.  But we don't lose heart because of them, because they make us stronger and better than before.



The world was almost completely destroyed by a flood once, almost entirely demolished.  But now we have the Grand Canyon.  What a sight to behold!