The hallway in my engineering school had a TV set continually playing a loop of a falling bridge. In 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge failed due to dynamic instability in a relatively mild forty mile-an-hour wind.
I watched the tape hundreds of times waiting for my engineering classes. The unspoken message to aspiring engineers could not be mistaken, “Listen to what we teach you. Don’t make a catastrophic mistake.” This may have been the most important lesson I learned in college.
Tacoma Narrows Bridge–rebuilt more thoughtfully in 1950–is about thirty miles from where we now live. Kit and I frequently drive over it, now two bridges to accommodate four lanes. Recently we hiked over.
I love the bridge as a reminder of my college days and for the lesson it taught me. Catastrophe can follow neglect of scientific or spiritual principles. Learn solid principles and carefully apply them.
Drew
More Than Ordinary Lives 
Great wisdom!
Sent from my iPhone
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Thanks, Angie ! Love to youa nd yoru family.
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That’s something I’d like to do is walk over the new bridge. When my oldest son was born in Tacoma in 1983, there was only the old bridge. To my great surprise coming across in 2020 was amazing and then in 2021 sailing underneath them feeling small. But going back to the video you mentioned I can relate to the day Mt. St. Helens blew up, scientifically shocking, seeking spiritual guidance, comforting.
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Thanks for reading the blog. We can all learn from the things around us if we pause long enough to pay attention.
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