Dirt Storm

Have you ever experienced a sand storm? I had the pleasure of a very mild one in Palm Springs which I took in from the comfortable confines of a company car. Being a company car I worried little about windshield pitting. The thought of walking around outside my vehicle at the time would have been a tremendously sub par experience.

Also had the pleasure of a mild dirt storm. I saw something during the storm that horrified me. To this day I reflect back on it periodically and cringe.


1997

I live in southern California where you may have seen news footage of our annual wildfires. The soil, after a fire, is very light and, of course, full of ash. There seems very little in the way of cohesive forces to keep the post-fire dirt molecules piled together into large heavier dirt molecules or clumps. This lack of cohesive forces allows gusts of wind to blow vast amounts of dirt and soil a considerable distance.

A wildfire had recently delivered its wrath to a neighboring community near the foothills of the Angeles National Forest. Much brush, native vegetation, and homes had been burned to the ground. The wind was strong and dirt and ash had buoyantly filled the air.

It was not fear of the dirt storm that bothered me, like one would fear a hurricane, but the discomfort that is often experienced with airborne dirt. I wear contact lenses, dirt in there puts me in sour spirits.

I had a location to visit in the name of work. This necessitated that I abandon the clean work place and expose myself to the dirt storm outside. Standing by the door looking out at the brown sky, I did my mental preparation and visualization technique planning how to minimize my exposure by streamlining my every motion. The car was fifty feet away. With car keys in hand, eyeballs already puckered into a protective squint to keep out the dirt, took a deep breath, held it, opened the door and exited the office. Proceeding at a quick hustling pace I attained safety inside the vehicle without incident.

As I brought the vehicle around from the rear of the building, I spied the vision before me that remains unfortunately ingrained. I saw a man on the sidewalk. He was walking. Bummer being relegated to walk in that misery. But wait, there’s more. With dirt swirling all around I saw him raise something to his mouth. He was eating! Eating while casually walking in a dirt storm as if it were just any other normal day! A burger partially concealed in a fast food wrapper in mid-consumption. Wow! ‘Dude, have some burger with your dirt,’ I thought to myself.

I have been bothered with the thought of how much dirt he was taking in with each bite. How much dirt was getting onto his exposed partially wrapped burger? You know that crunching feeling when you get a grain of sand in your mouth? Imagine the crunching that must have been going on in his mouth with each bite.

I paused at the driveway before hitting the street allowing this lost soul to walk right in front of me. Like a self inflicted wound, he took another bite and trudged on.
-klem