laptop confessional

Much more astounding and awful than anything in "Twister" -- the tornado footage recently captured by Weather Channel crews is certainly beautiful, seen from the safest possible distance -- on Hulu. I used to be fascinated by tornados, having never experienced one first-hand, but it's impossible to get too excited given the recent memory of mayhem and loss in Hugo MN.

I sometimes imagine what tornados might have seemed to be, seen from a distance across the prairie in say, the year 1740 or even 1860. What would Native Americans have seen? Wonder what it would be like to see the whirlwind cross a vast landscape inhabited by nothing larger than a jackrabbit -- no twisted metal left behind, no uprooted telephone poles, no collapsed houses or foundations scraped bare. I wonder what the track of a "twister" on open ground looks like, when it doesn't represent impact on lives and local economies.

It would be something to see the tornado's beauty with a clear conscience, the way I suppose no one really can anymore. It's a reminder of the scale of creation.