setting the standard

Have you noticed that 'Katrina' is the standard shorthand language now for 'really bad storm' or 'major disaster'? It's the measuring stick for damage, destruction, and to an extent, recovery.

The completely bizarre weather that's dancing around the midwest the last few days has done some serious damage, leading at least one mayor to compare his town's decimation to the swath cut six months ago by Hurricane Katrina.

Fair or unfair isn't really the point here ... adequate or inadequate comparison could be debated ... I just find it interesting how certain terminology becomes commonly used, commonly defined.

Foxhole mentality? Experience disaster = empathy? Interesting to consider, particularly when such empathy, compassion, etc., has moved many to respond ... and yet others (as in the Samaritan story our children studied this last month) have chosen simply to "pass by on the other side."