Blog #8

Tornados have fasicnated me for as long as I can remember. I respect the people who are putting themselves in harms way to actually study tornados to help us better understand their formation and patterns - which is what is happening in this video. I am disturbed by those people who go around just to be entertained by the storms - they get all giddy and excited when they are actually going to see something big and don't seem to be thinking about those affected by these powerful storms.

My closest encounter with one was in the summer of 2001. I was playing baseball, and the lightening kept getting worse. Our parents kept wondering when they were going to stop the game, and finally they did. I had riden my bicylce to the ball park, so one of my teammates dad's threw my bike in his truck and they dropped me off at home, and just then the tonado siren sounded. There was much destruction around the area when that storm produced a tornado that touched down. One home around a mile east of Seward was totally destroyed, leaving only the basement. My brother and I helped with the Salvation Army's distribution of food to the victims and clean-up crews.

Now that I'm in my wheelchair, I am probably much more frightened of tornados, because I know my abiblity to take cover anywhere is not always going to be possible. I hope people realize that warnings and watches should be taken seriously and not just looked upon as an opportunity for entertainment. Respectful fascination is okay, but the respect has to be there, or someone could get seriously injured.