Post by rramom on May 26, 2013 19:18:51 GMT -5
I thought this was worth sharing. Kansans aren't much different from Oklahomans, so I think we all can relate to this article.
www.oklahoman.com/living-up-to-the-oklahoma-standard/article/3834372
Living up to the Oklahoma Standard
BY KELLY DYER FRY
May 26, 2013
Now is about the time they just
want to go home and sleep in their own bed. But the tornado took their
bed along with their whole house.
It took their refrigerator where
magnets held pages torn from coloring books, upcoming wedding
announcements and that one school picture from years ago that never made
it off the fridge into the scrap book. And now it won’t because the
scrapbook is gone, too.
We hear them say things like “We are just lucky to be alive,” and “they are just things.”
Look around your own house and survey your things.
There’s
the picture of your grandmother pushing you in a swing. You are a
barefoot 4-year-old with red dirt on the soles of your feet. There’s the
ceramic angel your friend gave you to say “thank you,” just before
breast cancer took her life. We call our things knickknacks. They may
not have cost us much, but all the money in the world won’t locate them
in the rubble.
When you look at one of your knickknacks, pause and say a little prayer for those who own nothing right now. Not one knickknack.
We have returned to our normal lives. Normal life will elude them for months, years.
When
your vacation rolls around and you are looking for your suitcase — you
know, the one that your mom tied a big red bow on so you can “pick yours
out at the airport” — remember some of your fellow Oklahomans are still
living out of a suitcase. Be grateful. And say a little prayer.
When
it’s the Fourth of July and your dog runs to hide because he hates the
sound of those “dang firecrackers,” be grateful you still have your
furry little friend. Say a little prayer for your neighbors who never
found their four-legged buddy.
When the heat leaves you irritable
and grouchy … seriously. Just up the road there are friends who know the
true meaning of Oklahoma weather.
As the leaves begin to fall and
you go to your neighbor’s house — the one who puts out scarecrows,
cornstalks and hay bales every year, be grateful for old friends and
traditions. There are those who have new neighbors and new
neighborhoods. They just aren’t quite sure what to do on trick-or-treat
night.
When it’s time for Thanksgiving, be truly thankful. Be grateful for the turkey hand your third-grader made.
And
when you are decorating your Christmas tree, say a little prayer when
you hang that pinecone that has lost most of its red and green glitter
that your kindergartner so carefully put on more than three decades ago.
Yes, they are just things. Be grateful you have them.
We
know about drills in Oklahoma. We know the drill when a tornado is
approaching and we know the drill after disaster strikes, which it has
done far too often here in what some folks refer to as flyover country.
We
even have a name for what we do. We call it “The Oklahoma Standard,”
which was a phrase that stuck around after our response to the Oklahoma
City Bombing.
The Oklahoma Standard is deeper than our response to
disaster. I think it is more about the way we live our lives. We say
good morning to everyone we pass. We hold open doors and say things like
“let me get that for you.” There’s always room for one more at the
dinner table.
And one more in the storm shelter.
www.oklahoman.com/living-up-to-the-oklahoma-standard/article/3834372
Living up to the Oklahoma Standard
BY KELLY DYER FRY
May 26, 2013
Now is about the time they just
want to go home and sleep in their own bed. But the tornado took their
bed along with their whole house.
It took their refrigerator where
magnets held pages torn from coloring books, upcoming wedding
announcements and that one school picture from years ago that never made
it off the fridge into the scrap book. And now it won’t because the
scrapbook is gone, too.
We hear them say things like “We are just lucky to be alive,” and “they are just things.”
Look around your own house and survey your things.
There’s
the picture of your grandmother pushing you in a swing. You are a
barefoot 4-year-old with red dirt on the soles of your feet. There’s the
ceramic angel your friend gave you to say “thank you,” just before
breast cancer took her life. We call our things knickknacks. They may
not have cost us much, but all the money in the world won’t locate them
in the rubble.
When you look at one of your knickknacks, pause and say a little prayer for those who own nothing right now. Not one knickknack.
We have returned to our normal lives. Normal life will elude them for months, years.
When
your vacation rolls around and you are looking for your suitcase — you
know, the one that your mom tied a big red bow on so you can “pick yours
out at the airport” — remember some of your fellow Oklahomans are still
living out of a suitcase. Be grateful. And say a little prayer.
When
it’s the Fourth of July and your dog runs to hide because he hates the
sound of those “dang firecrackers,” be grateful you still have your
furry little friend. Say a little prayer for your neighbors who never
found their four-legged buddy.
When the heat leaves you irritable
and grouchy … seriously. Just up the road there are friends who know the
true meaning of Oklahoma weather.
As the leaves begin to fall and
you go to your neighbor’s house — the one who puts out scarecrows,
cornstalks and hay bales every year, be grateful for old friends and
traditions. There are those who have new neighbors and new
neighborhoods. They just aren’t quite sure what to do on trick-or-treat
night.
When it’s time for Thanksgiving, be truly thankful. Be grateful for the turkey hand your third-grader made.
And
when you are decorating your Christmas tree, say a little prayer when
you hang that pinecone that has lost most of its red and green glitter
that your kindergartner so carefully put on more than three decades ago.
Yes, they are just things. Be grateful you have them.
We
know about drills in Oklahoma. We know the drill when a tornado is
approaching and we know the drill after disaster strikes, which it has
done far too often here in what some folks refer to as flyover country.
We
even have a name for what we do. We call it “The Oklahoma Standard,”
which was a phrase that stuck around after our response to the Oklahoma
City Bombing.
The Oklahoma Standard is deeper than our response to
disaster. I think it is more about the way we live our lives. We say
good morning to everyone we pass. We hold open doors and say things like
“let me get that for you.” There’s always room for one more at the
dinner table.
And one more in the storm shelter.
