Storms brewing...

So Dean has been upgraded to hurricane status and as of 5:00 a.m. local time Warnings were issued for St. Lucia, where my sister lives.

Years ago during Hurricane Allen (or perhaps it was David) I pulled storm duty at the radio station I worked for at the time. Actually I volunteered. And I was on air for twelve hours straight except for those times that I was aquaplaning up the corridor, blown for about fifty feet by the winds coming through the open work on the building. Well, you had to to do something to stay awake! And it was fun.

The supermarkets will be utter chaos today. So will the gas stations and the banks. I have actually followed the advice of all the hurricane hints I have been broadcasting and writing since the beginning of hurricane season. Annoying little pops saying 'Are you ready? You should be!' and giving suggestions on how to prepare for and ride out the storm.

My mood is still displaced and unsettled. I realised while watching the night's mares that galloped back and forth like destriers, destroying rest as their great hoofs ripped up the virtual fields within my head, that part of it is the atmosphere of animosity back in the forums again.

There are threads I have never swung on, some I have passed through briefly and left, others I have paused long enough to make a comment, maybe two if I thought they were of interest. There are some where something has caught my eye and inspired me to add what knowledge I might have for balance and/or accuracy as misinformation has great potential to do harm in some cases, or may just put someone at a disadvantage if they try to use it.

I know this first hand as I have been, in my time, responsible for bands of roving gnomes, an over-eggcited Humpty Dumpty and a duodecapod (a non existent twelve footed creature). April Fool's day and a show on radio can lead to sheer havoc if one is not careful. And there are always those who miss the disclaimers. So presenting information as fact puts a huge responsibility on the presenter.

Over the last couple of days the number of threads I have been willing to enter has shrunk although in one at least I was talkative enough to generate an email in comment. There are times when I will speak up for what I believe is right. No one has to agree with me, and I am not going to argue as to whether I am right or wrong because it actually doesn't matter a hill of beans, but there are times when NOT speaking would be the bigger crime. Silence condones ill-doing. And there is ill being done in the forums.

So Nature's storm and the human storm we create and foment and perpetuate ourselves both flourish. Nature does not make excuses or justify herself, she blows on into town and tears it down to its foundations, not offering putdowns in the form of guidance, not claiming self defense, just simply blows or shakes it all away.

My I Ching reading says not to waste time trying to bring peace between incompatible people, so I won't. I have a radio station to run, a mother to soothe and a sister to worry about. I also have friends who are in a place of suffering to pray for.

It is a fact that in the next twenty four hours people will die. From a storm, by human agency, in war or from disease as well as just from the simple fact that their time is done. Others will suffer and hurt and feel despair.

And some will dispense labels like 'stupid' and 'idiot' and worse to strangers because there is no lasting or serious consequence to throwing insults on the net, and others will throw insults right back, creating a toxic atmosphere where entertainment and connection is meant to be the goal.

Human nature really sucks the big one sometimes!