{"id":2234,"date":"2013-05-22T08:14:36","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T13:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ewgreenlee.wordpress.com\/?p=2234"},"modified":"2013-05-22T08:14:36","modified_gmt":"2013-05-22T13:14:36","slug":"a-moment-of-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allivarcreative.com\/?p=2234","title":{"rendered":"A Moment of Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Unseen\"<\/a><\/p>\n

May 22, 2013<\/strong> – I live in Norman, Oklahoma.\u00a0 As you may have read, our neighbors nine miles to the north were just hit with a devastating tornado.\u00a0 I am speaking of the May 20, 2013 tornado in Moore, OK.\u00a0 This tornado had winds higher than 200 miles per hour and was as wide as two miles in some portions of the 40 minutes and 20 miles it remained on the ground.\u00a0 Our weather channel issued a tornado emergency, which is rarely used.\u00a0 This was issued with the warning that if you could not get underground, death was likely.\u00a0 Watch and you can easily understand why this issue to the public was given.<\/p>\n

[youtube=http:\/\/youtu.be\/xTpceWd8UE4]<\/p>\n

Moore, OK is famous for two other storms:<\/p>\n

May 3, 1999<\/strong> – in which the storm was declared an F5 tornado with winds that reached 318 miles per hour, or the fastest winds ever recorded on planet earth.\u00a0 Over $2 billion in damages resulted.\u00a0 This 2013 storm will most likely surpass this.<\/p>\n

May 8, 2003<\/strong> – yet another major tornado swept through the town.<\/p>\n

Tornadoes are a fascinating weather phenomena, yet one you only wish to view from a distance.\u00a0 I was close to one in 1986 in Edmond, OK.\u00a0 Edmond was also struck on the May 19, 2013 storm.\u00a0 What I saw in the 1986 storm boggled my mind.\u00a0 I saw a 2″ by 4″ lumber stud lodged into a tree, with no damage on either end.\u00a0 Tornado’s can turn the ordinary household item into a missile. My friend in Edmond captured this funnel cloud as it was forming over Edmond on May 19, 2013.\u00a0 He too was present in the 86 storm and now another one in 2013.\u00a0 Soon this storm went over I-35 and became more powerful, finally to level Carney, OK.<\/p>\n

[youtube=http:\/\/youtu.be\/Z8OL2P_z-3E]<\/p>\n

Many of you might ask, why live there?\u00a0 No matter where you live on earth, you have the risk for some\u00a0 form of major catastrophe.\u00a0 It is just the violent nature of the world we live in.\u00a0 \u00a0 Our state has many great qualities.\u00a0 It is part of the bread belt of America.\u00a0 It is the nation’s wind corridor producing new alternative sources of energy.\u00a0 It has vast reserves of oil and natural gas. Tornadoes do not happen everyday.<\/p>\n

But for me it is the people.\u00a0 The people of Oklahoma are tough, but caring individuals. On May 20, parents lost children and some children lost parents.\u00a0 We all lost neighbors and neighborhoods. Did we lose our faith or our determination?\u00a0 I surely hope not.\u00a0 I hope those effected by the storms have found comfort from those they do not even know and that generosity overwhelms them.\u00a0 This is a moment of tragedy, but also a moment for the display of the finest qualities of being human; to recognize that we are all part of one family, trying everyday just to survive.\u00a0 Most of the times these people we do not know ask no favors from us, but today without asking, we must give back and reflect what if we had traded places?<\/p>\n

This tornado began near Newcastle, the sirens went off in my neighborhood, as they had 5 times the night before.\u00a0 Could this have been me and my family?\u00a0 Yes, it could have been.\u00a0 This is why I take not a single moment for granted. Today is not about me, my feelings, or my needs.\u00a0 It is a day of the needs of others, those that I may have religious or political differences, yet today they have the very basic human needs of food, shelter and clothing.\u00a0 Will we come to the call for aid of the human family?\u00a0 I cannot speak for others, but I must offer something, even if it’s just money to buy a blanket or a toy to calm the nerves of very scared child.\u00a0 They will forever be changed. Events in our lives have a way of giving us deeper reflections of life than what the media focuses on.<\/p>\n

Next month I turn 54.\u00a0 Those 54 years have flown by, but they are flying faster now than ever before.\u00a0 Yes we suffered a tragedy, but it is also a learning moment that can have a positive impact on our lives.\u00a0 Take nothing and no one for granted.\u00a0 Bury your hatreds in the piles of the torn neighborhoods and be reborn to the needs of others.\u00a0 When you reach out and help another, you will receive blessings in return.\u00a0 Soon admiration for you will grow and in the hour of your greatest need, those blessings will be returned.\u00a0 We have suffered a setback, yet the fallen will rise again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 22, 2013 – I live in Norman, Oklahoma.\u00a0 As you may have read, our neighbors nine miles to the north were just hit with a devastating tornado.\u00a0 I am speaking of the May 20, 2013 tornado in Moore, OK.\u00a0 This tornado had winds higher than 200 miles per hour and was as wide as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[185,252,340,354,447,755,767,845,1249],"class_list":{"0":"post-2234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-writing","7":"tag-blessings","8":"tag-children","9":"tag-death","10":"tag-destruction","11":"tag-family","12":"tag-life","13":"tag-love","14":"tag-moore-ok","15":"tag-tornados","16":"czr-hentry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allivarcreative.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allivarcreative.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allivarcreative.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allivarcreative.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allivarcreative.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allivarcreative.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allivarcreative.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allivarcreative.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allivarcreative.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}