Hello Sandy….

I haven’t known many Sandys in my life and I’m not referring to hurricanes but people named Sandy but I’ve always been fond of that name.  It’s probably the reference to Grease, the play, or Sandra Dee in general, that makes me think positively but now we have a hurricane named Sandy.

Why do they give hurricanes names and personify them at all?  They are natural occurrences of nature but they are usually devastating events no matter where they occur.  I realize they rotate the names based on the letters of the alphabet and, to be politically correct, they now name them after men as well as women but why name them after people?

I was always told my elders, as a child, that they named the hurricanes after women because they are so unpredictable, like women, and after all doesn’t the word hurricane include the phonogram “her”.  But what about the devastating effects caused by these storms; the loss of life, the loss of personal effects?  In fact, they don’t name tornadoes and they don’t name cyclones, the other version of hurricanes, do they?

When something is personified, it is done so to add human attributes to a non human entity like Peter Rabbit but storms just don’t fit that moniker, do they?  They are not friendly, they are not welcomed, they are not indicative of human nature, or are they?

As I understand and have experienced human nature, we can be beastly creatures, unpredictable, and generally uncontrollable at times, in fact, murderous entities unwilling to stop until we peter out from exhaustion.  Well maybe I am making a case for personifying tropical cyclones after all.  We all remember the significant weather events like Gloria, Irene, and others especially on Long Island.

I live in Florida now but I find myself up in New York for Sandy.  I have personally lived through a number of these storms and was more affected by their resulting damage then their interim storm event.  Like others, I found it fascinating to witness the aftereffect of the muscle of these storms: the floods, the downed trees; the loss of power; the sheer power of wind and rain.

 Sandy is already overstaying her welcome in the NY area and I am already tired of the reporters standing in the same areas where people have been forced to evacuate.  How many times can we watch their hats blowing off; their camera lenses filled with raindrops offering breaking news of overflowing banks, loss of electric power; and reporters standing in sea foam and water?

Now I understand why they name these storms; we are all voyeurs titillated by forceful and uncontrollable characters; all this and just in time for Halloween; trick or treat anyone?