Hurricanes can be scary and dangerous, but it's just different when you grow up in the strike zone. While my parents didn't have a 'daredevil' mental state, there was a certain South Florida attitude of 'oh well, if you're gonna die, you're gonna die, so STFU about it.' My Dad would take me shopping during category 1 and 2 hurricanes because we would have the day off. As a kid I would hang up the Publix's annual Hurricane map on my bedroom wall. They handed out these free maps to customers every spring. The game was to track the storms each hurricane season. Every storm got a different color and you would change the name if it went from a Tropical Depression to a Hurricane. The whole game was demystifying. You looked at a hurricane as a logical progression.
Local tv meteorologists would warn viewers about a big sandstorm in Northern Africa and kids could take out their hurricane marker and date the sandstorm and put a dot on the map. A sand storm would swirl off the African shores and turn into a sea storm. And that might shift into a tropical depression and then it was a system to track. We were conscious that this thing on a map could move its way toward us, blowdown our homes, and kill. But it wasn't scary or nerve-wracking. It felt more like 'I wonder what's going to happen now? Oh, the storm turned this way...that's fascinating. Is this going to hit us?' Curiosity canceled out the fear. The grocery store hurricane maps were an important life lesson. I don't have control over the sandstorms and hurricanes...the literal and metaphorical kind.
There is an odd/magical human power to naming something. When you give something a 'name,' track it, categorize it, you bring it within the realm of the human spirit. Whether it's race, gender, diseases, or storms, this 'naming power' can trigger great discoveries or cause great harm....but it always demystifies the situation. We aren't as smart as dolphins but we can 'name the hell' out of things and gain power over ourselves.
Local tv meteorologists would warn viewers about a big sandstorm in Northern Africa and kids could take out their hurricane marker and date the sandstorm and put a dot on the map. A sand storm would swirl off the African shores and turn into a sea storm. And that might shift into a tropical depression and then it was a system to track. We were conscious that this thing on a map could move its way toward us, blowdown our homes, and kill. But it wasn't scary or nerve-wracking. It felt more like 'I wonder what's going to happen now? Oh, the storm turned this way...that's fascinating. Is this going to hit us?' Curiosity canceled out the fear. The grocery store hurricane maps were an important life lesson. I don't have control over the sandstorms and hurricanes...the literal and metaphorical kind.
There is an odd/magical human power to naming something. When you give something a 'name,' track it, categorize it, you bring it within the realm of the human spirit. Whether it's race, gender, diseases, or storms, this 'naming power' can trigger great discoveries or cause great harm....but it always demystifies the situation. We aren't as smart as dolphins but we can 'name the hell' out of things and gain power over ourselves.
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