This will change the tone of the thread a bit and I appologize for that, but I'm sure that you can possibly relate to this - especially our members in the southern US...
My dream/wish would be to never again have to respond into a post hurricane devastation area along the Coastal US to assist victims and to administer Christian or generic Last Rites to those who didn't make it.
Except for 2006, we have seen death and destruction in those areas of monumental proportions. Some persons are beligerant and refuse to evacuate because "they can ride it out"... but history and statistics have confirmed that they can't. These are the persons that the officials and religious organizations try to reason with before landfalls take place and our pleading falls on deaf ears most times. Then, when 160 MPH winds, a storm surge 19 feet high with 35 foot waves on top of that come crashing into their world, it is too late to have second thoughts.
What a wonderful thing it would be to have everyone leave when told to do so instead of placing themselves and their families in jeopardy - just to try to salvage 'material goods' rather than trying to salvage their 'lives'...
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(P/S to Padelford: sounds as if you have part of the movie "Dune" mixed into your dream.)