Learning: The Power of Water

Nature has a way of reminding us who has the power every now and then, this last week being its friendly reminder to the DFW area.  Growing up near the Pacific Ocean, I know the true power of an immense body of water and I am always humbled by its control.  However, I have rarely experienced the potential for destruction held within a storm.  The extreme, yet short-lived, weather we experienced this Thursday was eye opening for me, a Southern California native unaccustomed to weather varying more than ten degrees above or below seventy.  It also was a great example of how bipolar (as I like to say) Texas weather is.  I had absolutely no idea in the morning that when I would sit down to take my test at 3:30 that afternoon the skies would unleash a torrential downpour of rain, hail, wind, and thunder.  The power of the storm shook Tandy Hall and caused the lights in my classroom to flicker.  This, combined with the pounding of hail and rain against the window behind me, caused more than a little concern between myself and my fellow classmates as we attempted to concentrate on the first exam of the year in that course.  Looking back, the events of that day were a pretty accurate and ironic representation of how my classmates and I were feeling about the test.  The calm before the storm stretched the length of time we were frantically cramming in our final hours of studying in the library before facing the test and as we were being handed the test, the storm began.  When I walked out of the building after finishing the test, less than sixty minutes later, there was barely a drizzle of rain outside and the sun was already showing through the clouds.  It was incredible; the small-scaled hurricane that seemed relentless had already passed. 

Outside of the heightened anxiety within the classroom, the storm had incredible effects on the city.  The sound of sirens from multiple fire trucks led to a house on fire from a lightning strike; buildings and houses were wrecked to their foundations; entire trees, big and small, ripped from their roots and now laying on their sides.  For a storm that had lasted less than ninety minutes, the destruction it left behind was amazing.  It is a humbling experience to witness the true power of nature, especially water, and to realize that humans have no control over the outcome of such an event.  We can take preventative measures but nothing we do can completely protect us from the power of nature.  It amazes me that a lifeless force can have such control over me and I can do almost nothing to protect myself.  This event, this “extreme” weather we experienced doesn’t even compare to what other parts of the world has endured, such as Hurricane Katrina or the tsunamis that destroyed the coasts of Japan.  It does, however, open our eyes to the force of water and its potential.  I ended that day with a greater level of respect for not only nature but for water and its impact on us.