Storms are awesome, unless of course you're on the lawn of Blossom or another outdoor venue waiting for the performers to hit the stage, only to get stuck in monsoon-level rainfall resulting in the cancellation of the show. I personally had a really bad experience with this when I drove all the way to NYC, booked an Airbnb, and attempted to see one of my favorite acts play a music festival.
It was on an island, and lineups were moved around earlier in the day to attempt to ensure that the headliners still went on. Well, in rearranging the schedule, the organizers actually did the opposite of this. I was front row, up against the crowd divider waiting for my most favorite band to begin, when a message appeared on the big screen announcing the cancellation of the festival for the evening. With this announcement, it was also requested that us concert-goers immediately evacuate the island. You can guess how well that went down, and alongside a mass of others I decided to stand my ground and not go anywhere.
Oh, what a mistake that was. The rain hit fast and hard, and before I knew it I was amidst a mob of muddy and angry fans with no clear direction on where to go or what to do. It was raining buckets and the intensity of the situation in such an unfamiliar setting had me in fight-or-flight mode. People were flipping tables and borderline rioting. It's difficult to describe how crazy it really was at that time.
I eventually pushed my way through the masses and made it on a Coast Guard ferry back to the mainland. From there, soaking wet, I walked about fifteen blocks back to where I was staying, in shock and disbelief as to what had just went down. I had originally intended to spend the following day in the Big Apple sightseeing, but after this unfortunate series of events, I packed up and left for home first thing in the morning. Let me tell you, that drive back was miserable, and I spent most of it in silence simply depressed at how my dream concert front row experience became a waking nightmare. Of course I was refunded for the ticket, but that was relatively insignificant in comparison to the money I spent to drive and stay there in Manhatten for the weekend. The worst part was knowing that I was front row and having that forever memory ripped out of my hands by mother nature and poor planning.
As you can tell from me writing this blog to begin with, I'm far from over it. I can only assume that the festival organizers made the best decisions they could based on the information present at the time, but I still feel like they could have prepared for such a scenario better. There wasn't even any emergency lighting on the island, and I'd be shocked if no one was hurt that night. It was a bad time.
Wednesday afternoon into the evening, we experienced some intense weather here in northeast Ohio, with lightning cracking throughout the sky and thunderstorms dumping cats and dogs worth of rainfall. It came in waves starting in the early afternoon, cooling things down and dimming the sky; there were some flash floods in the area and everything. I was happy as it made for some awesome pre-work sleeping weather, but it got me thinking back on this festival disaster I had a few years back. I minored in sociology in college, and after some reflection I realized this could be a good way to exemplify how our differences with one another are often fueled by a lack of understanding and compassion.
It's no secret that our unique individual situations and circumstances influence our reactions and viewpoints. A farmer may need rain for his crops just as much as a house painter needs it to be dry for each to make a living. Without stretching too far, my takeaway that I'd like to extend to you is that when we disagree with others, it is important to take into account what they go through and how that influences their perspectives. Even if you go through what you think is the same thing, it may not be, like a rainy day- in the house opposed to at an outdoor concert venue. As you go through the day today, I ask that you keep this in mind, even if it's as simple as giving grace to someone who seems to have a bad attitude. There's an old saying that goes something like, "the same boiling water that softens the potato, hardens the egg."