Irene

The weekend has arrived, and all we can think about in the Nation's capital is Hurricane Irene. She's due to beat on us between Saturday evening and midday on Sunday. Everyone in the know keeps us on our toes by painting a worse case scenario. I guess that's to be expected after the horrors of Katrina; you can regret over preparing with a smug indignation, while under preparing can devastate your life or worse.

This week is a curious one in the annuls of disaster history in Washington, D. C. On Tuesday we were hit by one of the most frightening and unpredictable disaster events in a significant earthquake. Four days later we wait with baited breath for one of the most frightening and predictable disaster events in a major hurricane. And in the end it doesn't matter whether we can prepare for calamities or not, they happen. The bottom line is neither shaken nor blown away. We remain on a continuum that goes from materialism to resiliency. We either depend upon the things that fade or build our foundations upon the ideals that transcend our circumstances.

And with that in mind, my circumstances between now and Monday are very open to the interpretation and imprint by powers that are completely out of my control. Why would anyone ever imagine our lives to be otherwise?