Mother Nature Speaks!

Pledge drive over and finally we can get back to normal? Wait a minute, what’s up with all this weather? Have you noticed? There is a lot less news. Even NPR contacted their affiliate stations to say that, due to the winter snow storms on the east coast…”there is a lot less news.”

What do the winter snow storms on the east coast  have to do with the rain storms in California other than the El Nino connection? From the inability for trucks to drive up and deliver fuel and food to Big Bear – to the empty grocery stores in Washington D.C., Boston, etc. We are again reminded that we are not always in charge, especially when Mother Nature is involved. Whether you are plowing snow, or plowing rocks and mud from the roadways it’s a mess! Without the ability to commute we are stranded, isolated, even afraid. Whether we are people in trains and cars. Bikers, walkers, bus riders, airplane riders, we are all on the same page. Stuck.

Are the bike riders on the east coast riding down the streets? Are California bikers cruising down the canyons in LaCanada-Flintridge? After a thousand flights canceled, according to CNN at 1:00 am this morning  EST. how many travelers are there stranded in airports through the Midwest and across the nation? More than you can count. Commuting is a lot like the circulatory system of our society. When weather becomes news and it intervenes and obstructs the natural flow of traffic, commuting life comes to a stand still. We are halted, our circulatory system slows and along with that, everything stops. It’s like we have a national heart attack. Reporters only reporting on the weather, anchors can’t make it to the station, robbers can’t get out to commit their crimes, and no one’s talking partisan politics for a change. Heck, political reporter Candy Crowley was conscripted to do the news (which was all about the weather), since she was the only one to make it into the CNN studios in Washington D.C. last night.

A Rainbow over Hollywood - Image from The Insider

We’re all shut ins. Therefore, there’s no news. Then a funny thing happens, you remember what’s important. Life becomes less petty. It’s about food and shelter. Is my family OK? Does my neighbor need help? Maybe it wasn’t national heart attack. Maybe it was a near-death experience where you see the light. Just Tuesday there was another rain storm. In the middle of that rain storm, there was a black sky. And in that black sky there was a huge bright rainbow. It could be seen over Hollywood and the downtown area. So big and gorgeous it made the front page of Wednesday’s  LA Times. At the end of the rainbow, turns out there was a pot of gold. It ended at the Coliseum. Home to the ’84 Olympics. A place for people to celebrate the excellence of being human. It’s quite a thing when we do that. And here you thought traffic was just the mess of cars stuck in front of you and behind…keeping you from arriving on time. When in reality, it is a mass of humanity moving together, trying to negotiate life.