A recent sojourn in Canadian County Oklahoma suggested the presence of an angry god rampaging through the community of Yukon ripping roofs off of residences in an arbitrary manner that leave random heaps of yellowed attic insulation on the ground and skeletal beams exposed under a blue sky in mute tribute to his rage. But in the courthouse in neighboring El Reno later that day a display of humane understanding and mercy was evident when a youthful assistant district attorney agreed to give a lesser punishment than originally suggested to a young man charged with DUI who is suffering from schizophrenia, saying “I did not want to set him up to fail.” The sympathetic prosecutor told of how he had been an intern prior to attending law school in the Congressional office of then Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke and that that service in the legislative halls may have accounted in part for the understanding that he displayed towards a young man who had become enmeshed in a criminal justice system that he had difficulty in comprehending. And on a following Sunday a group of tornado chasers sat at the counter at Granny’s Kitchen on Memorial Road in Oklahoma City where they devoured enormous chicken fried steaks and proudly told of the images that they captured of tornadoes forming and then storming across the land. One of them told how he can detect when the clouds are beginning to converge in an ominous manner to form a twister, and further spoke of how he is a military veteran who has 100% disability as a result of his service. Two of his colleagues were studying their laptop computer screens with avid interest that displayed pictures of the tornadoes that they recently filmed. While they spoke of their experiences pursuing their chosen field of study in Oklahoma, they also travel to other states, such as Iowa and Missouri, that are similarly ravaged at this time of year, and one of them proudly stated that he has put more than 20,000 miles on his car this year as a result. One of the men responded to a question about assuring their wellbeing while engaged in storm chasing by detailing the safety precautions that he has been known to take, that include driving down the wrong side of a roadway when a tornado was forming in close proximity to his personal location. There was also reference to the chat rooms that are filled with comments from others who share their unique interest and comment on the photos and films found there.
Against the Grain 