April really sucks!
We were kinda conditioned to feel as if it was some sort of sacrificial suffering for rewards in May. Remember the saying "April Showers Bring May Flowers?"
What a cruel and crass way to begin a blog, right?
But let's look at some reasons why I might say such a thing.
Historically, it's true. April is the month in which Abraham Lincoln was assassinated as was Dr. Martin Luther King Junior.
April is the month the Titanic sank, the month of the Ludlow Massacre, the Hillsborough disaster of 89, the fire at Notre Dame.
I remember watching the events of the Waco Branch Davidian compound unfold on cable news. And later as a reporter I covered the Oklahoma City Bombing April 19th where 168 people lost their lives as the Alfred P. Murrah building was bombed. It was truly terror in the heartland until we knew what was really going on.
Of course April is a terrible month for tornadoes. The conditions are just right to make a whole bunch of them when cool spring airs collides with warmer air or something like that. As a reporter I've storm chased more in this month than any other. Kinda like sleep with your clothes on, that was the feeling anyway when I worked in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Fast forward a few years to the Columbine High School Shooting outside of Littleton, Colorado. I don't think that needs further explanation and I'm sure we all remember. The Virginia Tech school shootings also occurred during this fourth month of the year.
The Deepwater Horizon explosion goes down in the history books this month, in fact, it was this week. You might remember that BP oil spill. Several were killed and injured.
The Boston Marathon bombing was April 15th, 2013. A fertilizer storage and distribution plant north of Waco, Texas exploded this week in history. The ammonium nitrate explosion killed 15 people and injured 160 others.
Now, I know all of this COVID-19 stuff started happening earlier in the year, but I'm going to go ahead and put it in the April category for suck as well. After all the stay-at-home orders, everything closed, everything cancelled, changed, postponed, re-designed, moved on-line stuff is really starting to wear on us. I think we need to understand that there is light at the end of this tunnel of trauma.
I didn't even mention TAX Day but that's bad and goes without saying, for most hard working Americans anyway.
Just some nerdy news thoughts about this month for you.
Come on MAY!
~Anne,
anneboswelltaylor@gmail.com
