​Hearing a Tornado Warning at 3:30 am

Fortunately for most of us, storms that we need to pay attention to usually happen while we are still awake at night and are watching the weather on TV or on our computers. In the old days, this was best because people didn’t have warnings available while they were asleep.
 
I guess the first time people were able to be aware of overnight storms was with the invention of the weather radio. Now, with our smart phones, we have the same capability with us all the time.
 
My smart phone went “nuts” earlier this morning at 3:30 announcing a tornado warning for my area. While this was not totally unexpected based on the forecast, it was totally unnerving. You are awakened from a sound sleep with an immediate danger. Shortly after, I heard the city sirens sounding.
 
Moving downstairs, I turned on the TV to get the latest news. My local ABC station has four or five meteorologists and they were all in the studio working. By then, the storm was moving so fast that the danger in my immediate area was over. About 10 miles northeast of my brownstone, a trailer truck driver had his sleep quickly interrupted by the same storm. He was asleep in his truck in a Walmart parking lot when the winds blew it over on its side. Another neighborhood east of my location had almost every tree on a particular street split in half.
 
Our reaction to these types of events is usually first to be grateful the storm skipped over us and then to feel guilty because we know others weren’t as fortunate. Sometimes it’s really hard to know how to feel. Someone in front of you or behind you on the freeway has a wreck and you don’t. A terrorist attacks another city or country but not yours. A good friend has a serious illness and you don’t.
 
We are thankful that we were spared from these events but we have to be careful not to be thankful they happened to others instead of us. As the Bible says, “we rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.”
 
Always be thankful and always have empathy. And always be ready to help.

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