San Fransisco Quake Centennial

I could not let this pass without commerating the San Fransisco Quake that devasted the City 100 years ago this morning.

This was our country's worst natural disaster before last summer's Hurricane Katrina.
I have visited the City only a couple times since I have lived in California and only seen a bit of what it has to offer.
What I have seen I can see why this City is beloved by so many natives and non-natives alike.
It is a City like no other.It is pretentiuous yet stately.It is grand yet simplistic.It is artsy yet subdued.It is a place where anyone can be anyone and be accepted.
The architecture from decades and now centuries old to some of the most modern within blocks of each other is magnificent.
Within blocks there is every culture and the most depressed of America's people to the most wealthy.
The gardens and the craziness of Lombard Street to the serenity of looking out at the water can bring something to the spirit that would be hard to find somewhere else.

This is the City my generation flocked to in its youth to make their statement on the world.Nearby are two of the most renowed learning institutions in the country and maybe the world, UC Berkeley and Stanford University.
The technological age happened right here in The City's back yard.
One of the country's best mass transportation marvels is here in the Bay area;otherwise known as BART(Bay Area Regional Transit).
This area boasts two major league baseball teams and two football teams.
Every conceiveable entertainment genre is possible to be experienced here.

The mountains, the Bay and nearby Pacific Ocean, the fog, the hills and all the people bustling about are part of this City's charm.

I can't help but think today about all the people along the Gulf Coast and how disheartened they may still be wondering if their lives will resume with any normalcy.
Look to this grand City by the Bay as your hope.
100 years ago the wires were reporting its demise.For 4 long days demolition was purposely destroying much of what wasn't damaged by Mother Nature.The seismic aftershocks were felt 12 minutes later in Japan and felt as far as Oregon, Los Angeles, and Reno.

The people of this City camped out in parks and began the process of rebuilding their lives and the legacy they left behind is this wonderful place so many call home and others will flock to see and experience.

The Big Easy will return someday probably different than it was;the Mississippi and Texas coast will rebuild. It may be years before we see the spirit back into these towns but it will return.It may be a different place than what was remembered but it can also be a better place.Look to San Fransisco as your hope.

100 years ago at 5:12 AM no one thought there was much hope.There was terror and chaos.
Now, look at what was rebuilt in its place.
It truly is a City that will steal your heart.

related stories:
http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=/2006/04/18/370262.html

http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nN18349611

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/04/18/state/n000117D26.DTL

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/18/MNGP5IAU4K6.DTL