The Surrounding Storm

EVENT

I grumble a lot about my job.
In truth, there are things I like about it and dislike about it.
I like the office staff. I don't like working for six months on a temporary basis. I like free coffee. I don't like working without windows.

I don't like working without windows.

A storm can sneak up on you, surround you for hours... you never even notice, tucked into an alcove on the 20th floor with nothing but walls and cabinets and medical files around you.

This happened to me today.

I was going downstairs to buy some coffee (because the free coffee has been soapy lately), and I noticed that the buildings and pavement were a dark gray. The sky was darker than I expected. I strained hard at the ground, and I saw a downpour. Mist drifted upon the sidewalk. People carried umbrellas or ran. Evidently, it had been raining for hours.

When I wake up in the morning, and the radio is on, they talk loud and harsh to wake the listeners up. This is what I hear. But I don't really listen, because I'm running around getting ready to leave.
But really... they're talking.

You tend to notice catastrophes.
I remember September 11th, of course... vividly. So many probably experienced that day with the same confusion as me, and now we're all sick of hearing it recounted for the one millionth time.
I remember the first day of our invasion of Iraq as well. I marched in downtown Chicago, in protest, on a chilly Spring night, with police advancing on the crowd in street sweepers. They forced us over the Michigan avenue bridge and under the El tracks.

There were helicopters.

But now. All around me there are allegations and books... the trickle of dissent in Iraq has erupted into riots... there is slaughter now... back home, the Bush administration is hacking their way through a campaign in which it's unclear whether they are in a desperate struggle to survive, or are already victorious, striking out of pure visciousness. The "war on terror" and the "war" and the "peace" and the whole mess of it is playing out, but just like in any great tragedy there are subplots... the abortion conflict is heightened. The church vs. state issue is brought to the fore. Gay marriage erupts into the most clamorous debating that issue has seen yet.

Surruonded by all this noise, all these politics, I suddenly realize that I am in the midst of a storm.

All those things I wondered about, as a politically minded teenager... all those issues are held in tension right now.

And I feel like I've been shut up in an office the whole time.

That I just stepped out for a moment, and opened a door, and noticed the furious pounding just outside.

~ Connor