A Force To Be Reckoned With

Today is my birthday and I’m turning 30, so I’m going to write about what I want to write about. Then again, I always write about what I want to write about. I really just wanted you all to know it was my birthday. Despite the fact that I’m finishing off my third decade, I’ve recently been watching a Nickelodeon series on Netflix called “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” It’s a cartoon and the characters are mostly young, but it’s charming and full of life lessons for children and adults alike.
The reason why I’m bringing up “Avatar” is because the main character, Aang, can manipulate the wind and air to cause sometimes devastating effects, much like the storm we experienced late Sunday night. Because of a strong wind, a 500-pound branch snapped off a tree in my backyard and crashed to the ground. Unfortunately the branch didn’t crush my house (most homeowners should be able to relate with this sentiment), but it did come down on top of a power line. Amazingly, the branch got wedged between my shed and the tree it came off of, taking the slack out of the power cables, not breaking them. No real damage was done other than to the tree. Wind can be brutal at times.
Aang is able to create strong winds to knock his opponents back and block their elemental attacks. Imagine being able to create a windstorm so strong that it turns into a hurricane (which Aang can do), destroying everything within its path. If you’ve seen any recent pictures of Hurricane Irene, you know that hurricanes can turn buildings into big piles of toothpicks. A huge, swirling mass of air has enough strength to pick up boats and cars and houses and throw them miles away, and it still has the power to continue raging across the landscape.
One of my friends, who is also familiar with the “Avatar” series, once asked me what kind of a “bender” I would be. There are four types: water, fire, earth, and air. I really thought about it and eventually responded that I would be an airbender. One, I would love to fly without using an airplane. Two, I like to think that I am relaxed and friendly and air is generally very soothing and calm; there is nothing like a cool breeze on a hot summer day. And three, the wind is invisible, which makes it easy to forget that it can be a force to be reckoned with; air has the element of surprise.
Don’t let the wind surprise you on your outdoor adventures. There have been too many sad news stories revolving around a sudden wind storm: a harmless campfire turns into a raging forest fire; a group of boaters is missing after their boat capsizes due to a strong wind; a rogue current of air knocks a plane out of the sky; a stage collapses during high winds and crushes a crowd of people; a kite flies too high and is ripped out of a screaming six-year-old’s hands. Okay, that last one wasn’t in the news, but it should have been. The point is, don’t count the wind out when you’re planning for an activity. Wind is like a ninja: invisible, deadly, and seems to be in multiple places at once, which it actually is. Don’t underestimate the power of the air and remember that I like mint chocolate cake!