I received an e-mail from the City of Sanibel this week inviting me to attend a program being offered in February called "Skywarn Storm Spotter Training." The training, which occurs in two parts, will address weather safety, thunderstorm formation, how to identify severe weather clouds, lightning patterns and hurricanes. It sounds fascinating!

The training is being offered to increase the number of folks who can spot a storm before it gets here. As our City Manager Judie Zimomra, noted in the e-mail "it is in the community's best interest to have as many trained eyes assisting us in identifying severe weather conditions as they approach our town."

When I was a boy, my mother taught me an old bit of weather-related poetry:

Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning;

Red sky at night, sailors delight.

I guess it was her take on storm spotting! Indeed, Jesus said much the same thing at one time--though without the rhyme! But he followed it up by suggesting we need to be on the lookout for other warning signs as well. And so we do. We need to watch out for those attitudes and actions that threaten the very fabric of society. Things like prejudice, intolerance and hatred. When we see such warning signs, we need to take action. For as dangerous as thunderstorms and hurricanes can be, the greatest dangers in life are not weather-related!

We all need to watch for signs of societal breakdown. And when we see them, we need to speak up. When we hear a racial slur, when someone is derided because of their sexual orientation, when someone tells an ethnic joke, when someone is excluded because of their religious beliefs, we need to speak out! We all need to be storm spotters. It is indeed, in the community's best interest!

(Photo Credit: Google Images)