Jun
21
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We live in Tornado Alley. For those of you not in the US, that is a swath of the American landscape that goes through the middle of the country, south to north, west to east. It is the line where the cold air from the northwest comes in and meets the warm air coming up from the Gulf of Mexico in the south.
When the 2 air masses collide and the conditions are right, we get very severe thunderstorms, unlike anything the rest of the country sees. Those thunderstorms sometimes generate tornados with winds up to 300 miles an hour. Nothing will survive if hit by one of those F5 (the most severe) twisters. We are always uncertain exactly when, how or where they will form.
I used to live in California. We had earthquakes there. I was near the epicenter of the Loma Prieta / World Series earthquake of 1989. As the building I was in shook hard, I ran like hell, uncertain if I would get out without the glass wall right next to me shattering or the second story overhang collapsing. I was uncertain for hours whether my wife and kids more than 30 miles away and over a large hill, were ok (they were).
I have been blown up on a boat and badly burned. My family was uncertain for weeks as to whether I would survive. My mother had a brain hemorrhage. We were uncertain if she would survive (she did).
Certainty is not the default setting for life. Uncertainty is. If you want to live a successful life, a mature life, you learn this lesson and you deal with it. It takes practice and is hard, but the alternative is to be disfunctional and immature, never good at coping with reality.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by John Finley. There are a lot of John Finleys listed. But one was the first person to study tornados intensively, so I am going to say the quote is by him. It’s just too ironic not to.
1854-1943, meteorologist, tornado specialist
Apr
07
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Think of every accomplishment you have ever had in your life. I am talking to you, the teenager who is 15, the mother or father of said teenager, age 40 something, or the grand and great grandparents of all the aforementioned humans, age 60-100 something. What do all your accomplishments have in common? I am going to hazard a guess that each and every one was preceded by learning something. Learning, then practicing your learning in real life. That is how you can be confident in facing the storms that will come your way.
What are you facing right now, today? Is it out of this category? It is not. All of life is either learning something or practicing what you have learned. It doesn’t matter if it is your 1st love, 5th divorce, 10th job, 50th anniversary, 100th birthday or final illness. There is something to learn and something to practice. If not for yourself, then for those you love.
Quote by Lousa May Alcott, 1832-1888, American novelist. Interesting to note that she was tutored early in her life by Henry David Thoreau and had writing lessons from Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller. She published her first book of stories at age 17.
