New England weather maybe isn't so bad after all...

On the way home from work I listened to NPR as they discussed the recent tornadoes in the Midwest.  It only takes about fifteen or twenty minutes to get home but in that short amount of time, I thought about how nice the weather really is in New England.  Surprising even myself with my thinking, I began to think about it a bit more.  The weather here varies between two extremes from frigid, snow covered winters that actually causes any exposed skin to hurt to hot, humid summers that can make it difficult to breathe at times.  During the worst winter, we might have a number of Nor-Easters oppressing the earth with yards of heavy snow.   These kinds of  storms may cause power outages and some damage to your house or if it happens quickly and at busy time during the day, it can cause some terrible car crashes.  However, compared to other parts of the country that's minor.

Tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes are not only dangerous but normally result in massive property destructions.  Entire towns can be toppled and hundreds of people can become homeless within a matter of minutes or possibly seconds.   Not only do they have to deal with the frightening idea that they may not know about the well-being of their loved ones but also have to deal with the wreckage of their homes.   I can't imagine what it would be like to feel the immediate gratitude of the end of the event but then realizing that where you would live is now a pile of rubble beneath your feet.  Or worse, that all of your belonging and tangible memories could be scattered around for miles and there's little hope of reclaiming them.  Even if you are financially in a good place at the time; the amount of money it would cost to rebuild and even to live temporarily while you try and figure out what to do.

I truly can't imagine the devastation that many people in United States and abroad have felt as a result of a standoff with mother nature.  There is the ever looming threat of a massive earthquake waiting for us as we casually live over a fault line, the occasional hurricane make cause some terrible destruction, and every once in a blue moon we might have a tiny tornado touch down but it's not something we anticipate having to face every year.   For years, I've complained about the weather here but maybe I just don't know how lucky I am to live here.