Founder's Message: The Ark Storm

Ever heard of the Ark Storm? Ever heard of Noah? You'd be surprised at how many people under 40 have never heard of Noah. I guess that politically correct schools could be sued if they mentioned Noah since he appears in the book of Genesis, chapter 6-9. What is unknown to most is that he also appears in the Qur'an, the Islamic Bible as a respected prophet - also Hebrew literature, Mythology, Gnostic, Baha'I, and Greek mythology. What made me even think of Noah and what does he have to do with real estate? Katrina was six years ago. The Japanese tsunami was last year. Last month some of us felt a twinge of an earthquake that happened in Virginia. This past summer, Springfield, Mass. experienced a first-time tornado, and Vermont was designated a disaster area last month, losing many of its covered bridges that had stood for over 100 years. Does all that unplanned destruction affect real estate? If a foreign nation gets angry at our country and decides to attack, we have weapons of protection. But, if Mother Nature gets angry at us, we obviously have none (at least we used none against any hurricane, tornado, earth quake or tsunami.) Wouldn't you think that if we are smart enough to travel to the moon, we could invent something that could blow up those natural disasters before they attack? And I forgot to mention a volcano eruption that hasn't happened in our back yard yet. So when the floods came to the Northeast, floods we had never experienced before, I thought of Noah who probably never really existed and is only a symbol. Modern science talks about an Ark Storm, Google it. In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 against daily prayer in public schools. In 1963, the U.S. President was assassinated. Did one have anything to do with the other? Of course not. I just thought I would mention it. Just like I am sure that an angry Creator written about in Genesis over 4,000 years ago would not show His anger again in a world that appears to be dominated by runaway greed and white collar crime. A country that is slowly but surely erasing His name from wherever it appears in public places. Maybe Mother Nature feels sorry for the governed (that's us - 300 million of us) who really have no say in what happens in government. All decisions are made by 100 senators, 435 congressmen, 9 supreme court justices and one president. That's a total of 545 who make decisions for 300 million. Do the math. It really doesn't add up, especially since the senators and congressman are allowed to serve for life. Shouldn't they be limited to two terms like the president? Of course they should. And we would find an entire different breed of person deciding to devote two terms representing the governed. By the way, I think Noah would have made an excellent political representative. When the flood receded, he tilled the earth and built a vineyard that led to making wine, and then (of course) drinking it. The next time you are sipping wine in the rain, toast Noah. Roland Hopkins is the founder of the New York Real Estate Journal, Norwell, Mass.