Praying for our fellow citizens in Oklahoma.

Good morning. It's Wednesday, May 22, 2013, where it's impossible for me to get those images out of my mind of the devastating tornado in Oklahoma. Those schools reduced to rubble. While the counts are still being validated, we know that several children died in that apocalyptic few minutes. I hear people say, "Well, they chose to live there and after all, it's called tornado alley for a reason." Sorry. My heart won't allow me to think things like that. I see those parents waiting out on the perimeter. I see it getting dark. I hear them say that the hallway where they would have been hunkered down no longer exists. We are human and our hearts cry out: Why? Our faith then informs our emotional response and we begin to pray for those injured, for those who are mourning, for those who put themselves in harm's way to do what they could to help. I see the little ones sitting out on that curb wrapped in towels and blankets and I pray. Mommy and daddy are likely in that six mile traffic jam trying to get there as soon as they can. I pray. Devastation and ruin but as they talk with people you hear what faith sounds like. "God will get us through this. He has done it in the past and He will do it again." The governor spoke and she expressed their greatest need at this time: "Your prayers." May we all seek God on behalf of these men, women, boys, and girls, as they go through this most difficult time. Amen.

There are those in Washington D.C. who are already attempting to make political gains from this tragedy. One Senator took to the floor and blamed the Republicans for not wanting big government except when they are needing assistance like that in Oklahoma. He went on to say it was the Republicans who refused to go along with the many proposed global warming schemes, therefore, they are also responsible for this devastating storm. If I were the people of Rhode Island I would be so ashamed that their Senator Sheldon Whitehouse would seek to make his points while fellow citizens, including children, lay dead and injured. I would tell this politician that we are a United States of America. I would tell him that the people who live in Oklahoma pay their taxes, live under the same national laws as the people in Rhode Island, or as in any other state. It is not the government's provision, the money made available for disaster relief comes from all Americans. And, these people are not looking for a handout as he called it, but rather, they, like his constituents hit by Super Storm Sandy, are entitled to the same treatment under the law, whether they are Republican, Democrat, Independent, or whether they believe in or they do not believe in that politician's view of global warming, or any other of his views. There was a time when someone doing something so hatefully egregious would have been ridden out on a rail. Too bad they don't do that anymore.

Sorry folks, but stuff like that just infuriates me. I know. That's why many people tune it all out so that they don't have to get stirred up about things like this. The last figures I can find show that Oklahoma is 25th on the list of federal tax revenues sent to Washington. Rhode Island is 37th on that same list. Oklahoma is 28th in population and his state is 43rd. Maybe this senator should only get a vote based on the amount of revenue and the number of people he represents, or, based on his state's overall contributions to the welfare of us all. That's nonsense and that's not the way our system was designed. He is from a tiny state but he as one of two senators from his state has the full measure of senatorial voting privileges. Maybe he should think about that before he rubs salt into the open wounds of his fellow citizens. Okay. I'll leave him to the response of the people because I can assure you he will be getting some attention over the next few days. I would hope the people he represents would lead the charge in having him apologize for his appalling behavior. But, that's just me, and that's just my view from here. Remember to pray for all those impacted by this great devastation and also pray for our nation. Amen.   ....More later.