I'm always fascinated by the people who honestly believe a natural disaster was somehow personally directed at them. The easiest way to spot these people is just to stand back and listen, because their tale of heroics somehow manages to increase the more times they tell you the story. Now, I'm not talking about the people who felt a rumble, assumed it was something else and then when they saw the news drew the obvious conclusion. I'm referring to the people who really didn't feel a thing at the time, but once they figure out what happened and that having an earthquake story would make them stand out, their story changed and now to hear them tell it were lucky to escape with their lives. (In case you were wondering, these are also the same people who show up around playoff time to loudly tell you how they have stuck with their team through thick-and-thin while wearing jerseys so new they still have the tags on them.) I'm not saying people don't have the right to be mildly freaked out because they were in an earthquake which is rare for these parts, I'm just saying it's not a club or a contest.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Aftershock Afterthought
As you may have heard (although, given the lack of dramatic photographs of damage, maybe you didn't), Tuesday night an earthquake measuring 4.0 on the Richter Scale happened in southern Maine. The shock waves were strong enough to be felt in Massachusetts, just not at my house. Much like last August when a 5.9 earthquake outside of DC managed to rattle a few windows in Boston while I never felt a thing, I didn't know there was an earthquake on Tuesday until people started calling me to see if my house was still standing. I'm not sure if this is a testament to my personal shock absorbers or if I should be worried that apparently I will only notice a big natural occurrence as my roof is caving in on me. Either way, this incident has made me slightly more on edge simply because last year there was an earthquake south of us and now there was one north of us. It doesn't take a geologist to realize that eventually Earth will split the difference - it's honestly just a question of when. But for some reason I can't help but feel like my bigger concern on that day will be the people who can't wait to tell you how much worse the earthquake was for them than it was for you.
I'm always fascinated by the people who honestly believe a natural disaster was somehow personally directed at them. The easiest way to spot these people is just to stand back and listen, because their tale of heroics somehow manages to increase the more times they tell you the story. Now, I'm not talking about the people who felt a rumble, assumed it was something else and then when they saw the news drew the obvious conclusion. I'm referring to the people who really didn't feel a thing at the time, but once they figure out what happened and that having an earthquake story would make them stand out, their story changed and now to hear them tell it were lucky to escape with their lives. (In case you were wondering, these are also the same people who show up around playoff time to loudly tell you how they have stuck with their team through thick-and-thin while wearing jerseys so new they still have the tags on them.) I'm not saying people don't have the right to be mildly freaked out because they were in an earthquake which is rare for these parts, I'm just saying it's not a club or a contest.
I'm always fascinated by the people who honestly believe a natural disaster was somehow personally directed at them. The easiest way to spot these people is just to stand back and listen, because their tale of heroics somehow manages to increase the more times they tell you the story. Now, I'm not talking about the people who felt a rumble, assumed it was something else and then when they saw the news drew the obvious conclusion. I'm referring to the people who really didn't feel a thing at the time, but once they figure out what happened and that having an earthquake story would make them stand out, their story changed and now to hear them tell it were lucky to escape with their lives. (In case you were wondering, these are also the same people who show up around playoff time to loudly tell you how they have stuck with their team through thick-and-thin while wearing jerseys so new they still have the tags on them.) I'm not saying people don't have the right to be mildly freaked out because they were in an earthquake which is rare for these parts, I'm just saying it's not a club or a contest.
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