We're not in tornado alley

The clerk in the quiet store was watching news clips from Oklahoma where the tornado did so much damage. "Why don't aren't they required to have shelters?" he asked as if we were in the middle of a conversation although, in fact, I do not stop in that store very often. I don't know him and he doesn't know me.

"Well, at least the schools should be required to have storm shelters," I said.

"They call it Tornado Alley," he said.  "You'd think there would be laws. Here you can't build a tool shed in your backyard without getting a permit.  What's wrong with those people."

I nearly said, they're Republicans.  But I don't know that man -- we do have some Republicans here on Cape Cod, after all. Only my friends would smile at that bit of wit. "Different parts of the country has differnent ideas about what kind of laws are acceptable," I said. We decided the so called 'hurricane alley" is about 500 miles wide and 1000 long. Yes, he and I think every school should have a  hurricane shelter big enough for all the students. Imagine the amount of money that would cost all those school districts.  But aren't the children' lives worth it?  The people of Moore, Oklahoma can answer that.

We are in a period of increasingly unstable weather.  I don't think anyone can argue that's not true, it must be taken into consideration.  Last spring brought terrible tornadoes too.  Last fall brought hurricanes up the East coast. Forest fires, drought, floods, blizzards.  All the natural disasters will happen.  No on can say "It won't happen here."  We live on this earth and this earth's ecology is in turmoil.