"From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines, going where I list, my own master total and absolute, Listening to others, considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me."
Walt Whitman (1819-92)
"When I look back now over my life and call to mind what I might have had simply for taking and did not take, my heart is like to break."
Akhenaton (d. c.1354 BC)
And now, the current weather, from some random person we pulled off the street:
Monday, September 15, 2003
The Winds Come
mon·ster Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English monstre, from Middle French, from Latin monstrum omen, monster, from monEre to warn -- more at MIND
Date: 14th century
1 a : an animal or plant of abnormal form or structure b : one who deviates from normal or acceptable behavior or character
2 : a threatening force
3 a : an animal of strange or terrifying shape b : one unusually large for its kind
4 : something monstrous; especially : a person of unnatural or extreme ugliness, deformity, wickedness, or cruelty
5 : what you call a huge hurricane
Isabell. Such a sweet name.
It brings to mind a mental image of a young sweet girl, blond hair in ribbons, standing in a field of yellow spring flowers. But Thursday, that's not going to be what it brings to mind at all.
Isabell is the name of a hurricane that looks like its coming right down our throat.
I missed the last two big storms. By the time Hugo hit South Carolina, I had moved to Florida. Although it destroyed many places I remembered, I was not in its path any longer. And when Andrew hit Florida, I had already moved to Virginia, so that one missed me too.
Isabell is not going to hit South Carolina or Florida. Its heading straight for my backyard.
I remember when I lived at Myrtle Beach for the summers, and what would happen in the campground when storms like this one approached. Everyone would frantically pack up and make a mad exodus from the entire area. Campers and tents are not good structures to be in when the winds blow.
My camper, a park model, was tied down. It couldn't be moved. So I would pack up whatever was valuable (at least to me) and head to my parents house in Florence at the last minute.
Once when I left, I believe it was in hurricane Frederick, the water was already in the street in front of the trailer. I opened my car door and a huge gust of wind caught it and ripped it from my hand, bending it backwards. Those winds were incredible, you could barely stand up. The sound above you was like a million angry bees as the wind ripped through power lines and around corners of buildings and through sea oats. The waves were scary, huge behemoths rolling all on top of each other.
I think that storm was only acategoryy 1 or 2.
Isabell is acategoryy 4 right now. Probably be a cat 3 when it hits.
I'm glad I don't live on the ocean. At least right now I am.
The eye of Hugo passed right over Florence, where I grew up. The eye of Andrew passed over Ocala where I had spent ten years. I've never been in an eye.
Last night I was on line with a friend of mine who thinks that he can single handedly pray the storm away. I mean, God does in fact have the power, no doubt of that, but I am not sure this guy has the wisdom to make decisions on that level for God.
So many times I see people praying for this outcome or that one, specifically, never taking into account what GOD may want. I have always felt that that was a prideful way of handling things. "God, I want a bike. A red one."
Sorry, God is not Santa Claus, He's not the genie from Arabian Nights either. Faith isrealizingg that we cannot begin to grasp his purposes, and yielding to them. Faith is not coming up with a wish list and delivering it to Daddy Warbucks in the sky.
No, I think that when we take decisions of destiny into our own hands, we become something truly monstrous.
So let my friend pray against the hurricane if he wants. I'm just going to wait and watch and see what God has planned.
And I'm good with that.
He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)
