Pictures tilted on the walls, windows rattled, the whole house shook, and the only person standing was knocked off his feet. What was THAT?!
Again?! Are we being bombed? Check the online news feeds! Turn on the radio and television!
It didn’t take long for us to find out what’s going on. A small plane must not have filed a flight plan or the pilot would have known there were Presidential air restrictions in affect. But he didn’t know, he violated restricted air space, and fighter jets broke the sound barrier responding to the threat. Everyone for miles around heard it.
Red = Affected Area
Since then, I’ve been pondering ways that this event is similar to RA. Aside from the fact that both can make people fall.
If you felt the sonic boom, there was no doubt that something had happened.
If you’re affected by RA (or any autoimmune disease), there’s no doubt that something’s wrong.
If you felt the sonic boom, you kept looking for information until you had an answer.
If you’re affected by RA, you keep going back to the doctor until you find an answer.
Some people who felt the sonic boom phoned 911 even though they just wanted to ask what happened.
Some people with RA go to the emergency room even though they’re not dying.
If you felt the sonic boom, even after learning what had caused the “explosion,” you wanted to talk about it.
If you’re affected by RA, even after diagnosis, you want to talk about and try to make sense of it.
But we know what causes a sonic boom, and it’s entirely preventable. Not so with RA. Obooma was yesterday’s news, but RA explodes into your life without warning and nothing is ever the same again.
Wishing you a day without explosions of any kind.
∞ itis 
I didn’t hear the sonic boom personally (I live just outside of Seattle) but heard it replayed on the radio!
LOVE this post! It’s such a perfect analogy for RA.
And, it brought up some old memories. Way back in the olden days, I was stationed at McChord AFB. I worked for NORAD, directing the fighters that protected the northwestern part of the continent. Supersonic flight was only allowed miles out over the ocean because the booms scared people and made cows stop giving milk.
I remember hearing sonic booms frequently when I was a child. We lived near Mather AFB in Sacramento, and apparently, going supersonic over land was normal back then. Sometimes I forget that a huge portion of the American population has never heard such a thing and might, indeed, call 911. 😉