It became an American idiom!
In October of 1991 when the Andrea Gail, a commercial fishing boat out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, headed out to get, if not the perfect catch, at least the one that would bring the financial return they desired and needed, they did not know they would sail right smack dab into “The Perfect Storm.” That term became the title of a book and a movie, and was thereafter popularized and used by us in every imperfect situation that arose on the seas of our rough waters of life.
But it was not a new term at all, I guess it was just new to us in our age of enlightenment. The Oxford English Dictionary has examples of the use of “perfect storm” by weather forecasters from as early as 1936, and points out that the phrase is much older even than that. Indeed it is, as London’s The Morning Post used it this way on October 11,1827 “The overflowing audience burst into a perfect storm of rapture.” The term had already left its moorings and docked on the sunny shores of literary application by 1827. Well over one hundred years later, we simply discovered it lying on the bottom shelf and got it shipshape again.
In terms of the term, you would do well to emphasize in your own mind the second word “storm.” After that comes the “perfect.” It was perfect in the worst kind of storm way. All hands were lost at sea despite mayday responses and the perfect attempt of the rescuers. The Andrea Gail was never to be seen again. A perfect storm is an event in which a rare combination of circumstances drastically aggravates the event. Specifically, we might say it was a storm that could not possibly have been worse. Certainly not for those aboard the Andrea Gail.
I’m thinking that our beloved America (at least She is beloved by most reading this) has seen its own Ship of State sail bow first into the perfect storm. The Covid 19 threw us into a dampenic, (sometimes I can’t help myself) with over one hundred thousand of us losing our lives and more sure to come. We shut down America because of it, draining our budgets at home in in D.C., and then we were sent to our rooms like spoiled children. Constitution rights be darned, our leaders effectively said. Then came the sad saga of George Floyd, and rioting across our fair land that left over one hundred cities fairly wrecked. Los Angeles County now has a curfew throughout, although you’d be hard pressed to know why this is necessary in the laid back neighborhoods of La Mirada and other such placid cities. Many believe that the storm warnings started when Mr. Trump came down the escalator, and then hit in full force on Tuesday, November 8, 2016 when Mr. Trump became President Trump, as the crew members of the Main Stream Media encountered their own perfect storm and have been going down with the ship ever since. This despite them seeking every imaginable rescue attempt, no matter how fanciful, phony and illogical those attempts may be.
People like Coach “Popoff” Popovich have obviously become disoriented in this perfect storm, calling President a fool, a deranged idiot, and anything else their minds can come up with, which is fine for them to do on every social media available, but somehow if Trump trumps them, beating their bid, they call on the bridge masters to disqualify him. It’s fine for marauding thugs to ruin Mom & Pop’s lifelong works and dreams, it’s fine for them to steal whatever is available after they’ve broken and entered, but it’s not fine to say that what they are doing is illegal, immoral, and should not be tolerated. This rhetoric from the conservative side is what is absolutely not tolerated! How could we? How could we? It’s like they’re Alice and we’re Ralph Kramden! And, of course, it’s fine to incinerate police cruisers whether they have police officers in them or not, and it’s fine to burn churches in order to express our rage. Not enough dare say that there is no legitimate reason for doing any of these. It’s not an expression anymore, it’s an opportunity for those who have no care for others, and no care for greatest country in the world. Has anyone bothered to observe that the offending police officer now sits in jail awaiting trial for murder and that many of the commentators that I know and love (OK, they don’t know me at all) have already judged the officer a murderer of one degree or another? That the Law is being applied in full force as it should be? There is nothing more to be done, unless they want vigilante justice, which is what they’re doing anyway. And if we should stand and speak against the rioters (that’s what they are – anarchists) then “we” are the deranged idiots. Really? I just heard Governor Gavin Newsome say “The black community is not responsible for what is happening in this country right now, we are.” I don’t want to make this all about race, but if it is, then it is. That’s what The Governor said just seventeen hours ago. Can I just say that breaking into New York’s Macy’s and stealing the goods has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with race, and that I’m not the one doing it? I don’t care what color they are doing the rioting, they need to be arrested! We arrested hairdressers, barbers, and preachers for carefully and cautiously styling, cutting, and assembling, but now, anarchists are beating, killing, burning, and destroying, and that’s OK according to these lost leaders. (One leader just mentioned the “rallies.” Are you kidding me? That’s what these are? Rallies?”)
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (KJV, Isaiah 5:20) What these rioters are doing is perfect in its destruction, perfect in its evil, and perfect in the eyes of those who hate America and love an opportunity to act as perfectly irresponsible human beings. Unemployment highs, government hand-out lows, Covid 19 hurts, anarchy justified by a liberal agenda driven bunch, and an unreasonable hatred of a constitution loving American President. The “Perfect Storm” it’s more than an idiom now, it’s an accurate description of what is being allowed to happen to our country!
Here’s an idiom for you, “I’m sick of it!”
Love and Prayers to all,
Pastor