Flirting With (Natural) Disaster

   People love a good natural disaster, especially the people that live in the small, shitty little village that I unfortunately call home at the moment. It seems as though every summer, they're talking about thunderstorms. Their eyes turn to full moons and they stand around, with their lips quivering and their mouths agape: "It's gonna rain! It's gonna rain! The power's gonna go out!"

   And then fall comes, aka hurricane season. Even though I live about 200 miles away from the beach, people at work today and yesterday were still sitting around, lips and mouths moving idiotically to the tunes of, "Be careful! A hurricane's a'coming! We're gonna get it!"

   When Christmas is over and we're all yearning for the sticky sweet heat of summer, people are going to do pretty much the same thing, except their moronic stares are going to come from beneath parkas and wool caps. "It's gonna snow! We're gonna get a blizzard!"

   It's like when you're driving down the interstate and suddenly traffic starts creeping along. You wonder what the hell is going on, figuring there must be an accident. Usually there isn't, but if the vehicles in front of you think for a second that there might be a dead body, some blood, or even a broken leg to behold...rubbernecking will commence and the usual twenty minute drive will take about an hour.

   We as human beings crave disaster. The more bored and desolate our lives, the more we crave it. I think that's why the people in my home town freak out with glee every time something like Irene occurs. Sure, there's going to be some wind and probably a bit of rain...but that happens all the time. It's called regular, run-of-the-mill weather. It's called life.


   So keep that in mind the next time someone you know starts building up an upcoming weather event to be something apocalyptic. They're probably just very, very jaded with life and want something horrible to happen to them to brighten their day. It sounds crazy, but usually the most crazy sounding of theories turn out to be true.