In the wake of the horrible tornado destruction this week, I want to send a little encouragement for Kentucky. This obviously goes for the communities in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri that were impacted, but our Bluegrass cousins were hit especially hard.

If you’re able to help, this site has links to all kinds of organizations providing assistance.

Getting back on their feet won’t be easy, but I’ve got confidence in Kentucky: this state has produced the toughest people on earth. Most of them are names that never became famous–hunters, explorers,  and coal miners.

But Kentucky has also brought us big personalities that left a mark on our history like Daniel Boone; James Bowie, the originator of the Bowie knife; Abraham Lincoln; Stephen Bishop, former slave turned daredevil cave explorer; the McCoy half of the most famous feudists in American history; Carrie Nation, the hatchet wielding temperance advocate; Judge Roy Bean, iconic judge in the Old West; and a guy named Muhammed Ali.

Keep your chin up, Kentucky. No storm can keep you down.

Just a few of the McCoys

Randolph McCoy, the patriarch of the McCoys

The Greatest

Judge Roy Bean

Carrie Nation, temperance advocate, posing with her Bible and hatchet  

Stephen Bishop, Mammoth Cave explorer