From the Editor's Desk
Strange feeling after storm
Arthur McLean
There is perhaps, nothing so bizarre as the detritus of a tornado or hurricane.

The places where stately old trees stood, a testament to the wonder of nature, are turned into broken mementos of one of the great contradictions: nature's fragility and fury.

Where once homes - symbols of man's enginuity and productivity - stood, lays the wasted, twisted remnants of our efforts; symbols of our powerlessness against the rage of the storm.

The very things designed to protect us from more benign elements are laid bare, tossed about as playthings and left spent impotent. Tufts of fiberglass insulation cling to tree limbs evoking the blooms of a cotton blossom or some otherworldly flower. Steel beams wrap themselves around tree stumps in a violent embrace.

Personal effect lay on the ground, stripped from their perch on a shelf or in a glass display cabinet. Clay pots, a stuffed bunny, they seem both familiar and alien.

Some houses are leveled. Some left relatively untouched. Some may call it divine intervention, kharma, or just dumb luck.

Whatever the name, whether it's Mobile after Frederick, New Orleans and the Mississippi coast after Katrina or Miller's Ferry and Enterprise after a nameless tornado, it's all the same.

After a few terrifying moments or hours, we're left with a sight of seemingly senseless, illogical destruction that defies summation.

Abraham Maslow postulated the hierarchy of needs in 1943. At the base is the need for food, water, sleep, etc. One step above it is the need for the safety and security of home and other things. Each set of needs must be met, he stated, before moving up to meet other, less necessary things.

In the storm's aftermath, we're left without some of those things, or questioning their ability to keep us safe, warm and fed.

In this uneasyness, we face a diorama of destruction, that lingers around our homes and in our minds.

I've been pretty lucky in the storms I've experienced. The worst I've had to deal with was losing a little bit of stuff and living in one half of my apartment in Atmore for a few months.

There will always be those who suffer greatly. I hope those who have to deal with this loss and destruction can rebuild and continue on with their lives.

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