Then if the tornado destroyed their home you would of said they would of been safer at camp.

Tragically, tornadoes sometimes take the lives of people who do everything they’re supposed to do when they’re in a tornado’s path. The Scouts and their leaders did the best they could with the available structures, but the sad reality is that one of the cabins took a direct hit. Unfortunately, we seem to have a tendency in our society to have to find blame whenever something happens and not accept that things happen that we just really can’t control and that aren’t the result of someone’s negligence or maliciousness.

I’ve been trying to find out more about each of the four boys. After reading about how selfless they all were and how much they gave to others, I’ve really been inspired by each one of them. I’ve been particularly impressed by the strong faith each one of them had. It’s amazing how much we adults could stand to learn from kids.

My thoughts and prayers will continue to be with their families.

And interestingly, the most prominent attack I remember which I think is the one that set it off had to do with that boy who was attacked and the father dragged the shark ashore and killed it. But they were doing what “everyone” should know not to do…playing in waste deep water in the evening. Exactly where and when most shark attacks occur.

Tornadoes fascinate me. In 32 years of living in tornado alley (two years I was elsewhere), I’ve only been close to one. It cleared a path from the school which it destroyed to our house which it jumped over, landing a few houses down where it pushed somebody’s garage back the way it had come, crossed the street and began leveling everything again. But there was no way to see it. The sky was pitch black and the rain was falling in sheets. My husband saw the trees twist on themselves, but that is where he got smart and returned to the basement.

And don’t forget we had what looked like a shark conspiracy down here a couple of years ago. Seriously, like ing together! The news announcers would say gravely to local sheriffs or marine biologists or whoever they were interviewing, “So these attacks must be connected, how is your investigation going?”

(If their lawyers are smart, they won’t have ever asked that particular question!)

Half the boys came from Omaha which was under flash flood warnings at the time. Maybe they were statistically safer in a campground on in the hills, I don’t know. But growing up here, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have a healthy respect for the weather. Nor do I know anyone who has canceled a camping trip because of the weather the week before. It changes too fast, and we just don’t know what is going to happen until it does.

It is easy to say that this or that should have happened, or that this or that should have been foreseeable. But I don’t think it was. And I’m a little hesitant to force regulations on every campground in America for an event that occurs so rarely. Statistically, the children were in much more danger on America’s highways en route to the campground.

Thanks for the insight into living in tornado country.

Interesting where we all draw the lines at what feels safe and like enough prep and how we justify things to ourselves.

All very interesting.

Nance