Here it is, the end of Friday the 13th of June, 2008. Today, Tim Russert died doing a voice-over for his weekend show; Stewart Mott, whose foundation funds a lot of Bill Moyers' PBS shows died of cancer (thanks for Seneca Doane's fine diary about Mr. Mott), and my beloved Iowa is under water. (Thanks for the great news diary from DemocratOz about the floods)
The Czech/Slovak Historical Museum in Cedar Rapids is completely under water. It took decades to raise the money to build it, and the artifacts inside are probably mostly ruined or gone. Luckily, my wife and I went to the museum not too long ago, and we were awestruck by the rare and beautiful works of art, and the historical relics, some many hundreds of years old that were so beautifully presented there. The memories are not very complete, thouugh.
My brother-in-law's fields are under water, too. But, so are the lands of most Iowa farmers.
Do not feel sorry for me. I am safe in my own house with full power and water. My place of work is safe and dry. All of my family is safe and well.
Still, I cannot explain fully why I write this..... Maybe it's just the fact that Friday the 13th is something I've never given any credence to, but now, like the accidents of numerology or the clock that doesn't run, the day of mystical bad luck brought really bad luck, and an overpowering sense of mortality is thick in the humid atmosphere. It seems like fate, and I have long disputed the existence of fate, but it's hard to deny it today.
For those of us who were sure the incomprehensible floods of 1993 were the worst we would see in our lifetimes, we understand now that all bets are off. Iowa has 99 counties. 84 of them are state disaster areas, and 21 are federal disaster areas. I realize that FEMA is here, and I'm not filled with hope by that fact.
I wonder if the Reverend John Hagee thinks these floods were caused by the immorality the Missouri Synod Lutherans who are all over Iowa, and who live lives much like Garrison Keillor describes from Lake Woebegon.
I wonder if George Bush will come here tomorrow. I remember a famous picture of a Des Moines woman who fell into President Bill Clinton's arms sobbing in Des Moines 15 years ago. She was so tired from trying to save her home, and beaten down by the failure of her efforts, that she lost it. Bill held her close, and whispered to her that it would be all right, and it was. Bill Clinton promised FEMA would help, and they did, brilliantly. The department had been rebuilt from the ground up by the Clinton Administration, and the work paid off in Iowa, Florida and elsewhere. I remember thinking later that this one policy victory alone absolved Clinton of any wrongdoing in his personal life.
Later I saw a news report about the woman in the photo. Her life had been put back together, and I was surprised to find out she was young and pretty.
Iowans are extremely practical people. We will recover form this disaster. Next year the crops will be better. Barack Obama will be in the White House. new and better levees will be built where the flooding is worst today.
I will have moved on from this late night funk, and, if fate is kind, I'll live a long time more.
I feel tonight like Private Ryan listening to the dying man who saved his life asking him to make sure his death would be worth it.
I want my life to be worth it, too. I hope it is....
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Update It's 2:10 am, which means the Cali crowd is now safe. I'm gonna head to dreamland.
Thanks everybody for the fun and the support. This turned out to be a good night after a bad day.
Peace!
Dave