Dallas Morning News editorial: Joplin's pain is our pain

The Joplin tornado was addressed in an editorial in today's Dallas Morning News:

Every shard of debris represents part of a life, an accomplishment, a friendship, a marriage; each is a reminder of losses of immeasurable personal dimensions in these storm-ravaged, weary communities. But within despair and loss also resides sustaining hope and purpose, even reasons to rejoice.


For instance, Joplin’s high school graduation Sunday wasn’t held at the school — a bit of good fortune that averted an even greater tragedy, because the school was destroyed. And in Oklahoma City, authorities say the combination of accurate weather forecasts, persistent televised warnings and a lot of luck spared lives.

North Texas mourns because lives were lost. But also because, having suffered through our own weather disasters, many of us have firsthand experience with killer funnels that swoop down from darkened rain- and hail-filled skies. Such is the randomness of a disaster that can spare a house and level another just yards away, and the reason Joplin’s pain is also our own.