If you have ever lived through a hurricane, you know it to be one of the most awesome and terrifying experiences man can endure. It was about 8 PM one Saturday evening back in 1944 that I saw and heard a full scale hurricane. The storm warnings went up early in the evening and then there fell over Deepbrook, Nova Scotia the most frightening silence you could imagine. The sun went down hot, red and bright over the Annapolis basin and water was as smooth as polished steel. Not a bird could be seen or heard. There was not the slightest trace of a breeze and the sky was completely free of clouds. And then, within minutes it hit. Trees were uprooted and torn to pieces. Small craft were dashed to bits along the shore and a jetty was reduced to scrap wood. A twenty foot dory he was picked up and thrown a quarter-mile inland. The building we were in shook like a leaf in the gale but somehow held together even though similar buildings went down before the storm. It was fierce and elemental strife like I had never seen and I was both frightened and fascinated. There was nothing we could do to stop it or reduce the fury. We were bystanders as nature went on the rampage; completely helpless against the forces greater than man has ever devised. I have never forgotten that experience and today, when I have spent a restful time beside some still lake drenched in sunlight and cooled by gentle breezes, I think again about the night of the hurricane and to myself I say, "old mother nature, today you are at your best, but I have seen your fury, and you have my deepest respect.”
No comments:
Post a Comment