This video was taken by a guy who survived the Joplin tornado in a walk-in refrigerator. Words cannot adequately describe the panic as children are separated from their mothers or the sheer terror of knowing that this could be your final moments on earth.
This is not disaster porn. This is a very short story about quick thinking, the force of nature and the kindness of strangers. I’m particularly impressed by the consideration the members of the group show for each other: the cameraman who is concerned that he’s on top of someone, the woman underneath him calmly telling him he’s on her back, the firm voice of a leader telling everyone to stay calm while other voices pray.
A year from now, these people may be swearing at each other in traffic. But if I were them, I’d mark this anniversary every year to remind each other how close they came to joining the dead in Joplin and how much they depended on each other to get through it.
Holy hemiola.
Filed under: General | Tagged: fastrip, izelsg, Joplin, tornado, walk-in refrigerator |
The Confluence 
http://www.change.org/petitions/draft-hillary-clinton-as-the-2012-democratic-presidential-nominee-the-new-petition
The link above is to the draft Hillary petition that was cyber attacked. Please dignity and pass on. I mentioned this in a comment on the previous post.
… Please sign…that is, thank you not autofill.
Thank you for posting this, RD — I’ve been showing this video to everyone I see.
I was kind of shocked when CNN first showed it yesterday because they stripped out the good stuff. They just played a bit with the woman shouting, “Jesus” and babies crying.
The good stuff was the part at the beginning where you can hear someone counting the number of people there. And you can see someone go to the door and let a couple more people in – just seconds before the tornado hits.
Everyone is so calm – no sense of panic at all.
And after the tornado hits you hear a voice say, “we can’t leave yet — we don’t know how stable the building is” ….. and you can see light through the holes blasted in through the refrigerator….
It really is a wonderful piece. I’m so thankful for Youtube …. we wouldn’t have been able to see this film without it.
This event just reinforces my disbelief in the small god of the people who were praying. This is a god that unleashes devastating forces of nature on innocent bystanders. He expects you to pray and beg him to save you. And he’s capricious. Some people he saves, others he lets die. No doubt, some of the people who died were praying too but god decided not to answer those prayers. We do not know why. We are to assume there is a reason.
He’s omniscient and omnipotent but utterly careless.
The god of the “Jesus!, Jesus! Heavenly Father!” woman will never be my god.
I’m with you RD. I saw this video the day after the tornado, and that one woman, crying out to her god really got to me. I thought these people can’t wait to “be with Jesus” and yet, when given the opportunity . . .