Certain events, no matter how long ago they happened, are forever etched in your mind. One such event that I shall always remember happened when I was in the third grade. It was late April, but it was not a beautiful spring day. Instead, it was a day marked by spring rains. It was a day that was dark and dreary. It was a day packed full of tornado warnings. Finally, late in the afternoon, the school bells rang at an unscheduled time. The teachers led all of the children into the hallways and told us to huddle against walls and cover our heads. A tornado was passing directly over the school building.

Fortunately, the tornado did not touch down around the school. The tornado passed over the school building and made its way toward Dallas. It touched down in Dallas and cut a mile wide path of …