“Welcome back, this is the Marshall Ramsey show.” It started as an average day on my afternoon radio show. It soon became one that I’ll never forget — for the bad and the good.
Four years ago today, violent tornadoes tore across the Southeastern U.S.. Now we’re used to tornadoes. But these were different. They were the Great Plains wedge-type long-track EF-4 and EF-5 monster beasts. While I was on the air, storms began to pop like kernels of corn in the microwave. People were dying in real time. And all I could was watch and try to give what warning I could.
As I walked out of the studio at 6 p.m., an EF-4 monster tore through Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It looked like the Devil himself was making a house call. The destruction across Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee looked like a bomb had gone off. The tornadoes left behind broken pines and broken lives.
Of course, that’s when “chainsaws and casseroles” kicked in. You know, that moment when you are pulling yourself out of the rubble and a church van pulls up with volunteers holding chainsaws and casseroles. Because when things get bad, we get good. To see the response in Smithville, for example, still warms my cynical heart. Four years ago today, so many lives changed in an instant. Four years ago, so many responded for the good.
Because that’s what we do. Oh, we have plenty of practice. But it’s comforting to know that when you have to pick of the pieces, you’ll have help.
That’s who we are. That’s what makes up special.
And we were reminded of that four years ago today.