A perfect storm is when there is an unexpected series of unforeseen events that result in the worst case scenario.
One local pastor has called the coronavirus pandemic the perfect storm.
The term became commonplace when describing such things when the fishing vessel, the Andrea Gail, was lost at sea in 1991 when it got caught in the middle of three unexpected weather events off the coast of the northeastern United States.
The coronavirus was something unexpected too, something our federal health officials believe started in an animal, got into a human in China and then in a matter of just a few weeks, the virus was spreading to other countries and then around the entire world.
And unlike other viruses like it, this one appears meaner than others and spreads faster than others and it did so at a time when even some of our own top health officials have said we were unprepared for this unprecedented pandemic.
Decisions have had to be made quickly by governments large and small and not all decisions have been good ones, because it’s hard to make all the right decisions when you’ve never been through what we’re going through.
But while this may be a perfect storm that affects the health, the finances and the families of virtually every American in some way, it will not end like that fishing vessel decades ago.
It will pass..not anywhere near soon enough for any of us…but it will. That is, as long as everyone, including and especially our government leaders, accept responsibility for the decisions that have been made and still need to be made to calm this particular perfect storm.
(Photo credit Getty Images)