( CNN ) -- Oklahomans have a special relationship with the sky . We know how to look up . On the prairies of western Oklahoma , the skies are so big , and so full , it is easy to feel you may begin to fall upward , or even fly . To live underneath this unbroken expanse of heaven can be at once inspiring and terrifying . Every Okie has seen those skies turn scary , and every Okie accepts that atmospheric instability is a part of our legacy . In school and from our trusted local meteorologists , we learn from an early age what to look for in a sky , in a radar map and in a safe place . Green-tinted clouds are never a good sign ; a hook echo on a radar -- the telltale swirl at the edge of a storm pattern indicating strong rotation -- means take cover . Underground is best , in a basement or storm shelter . But a small , ground-floor room with no exterior walls will do if the tornado is n't too strong . Cover up with a mattress or thick blanket to avoid debris ; do n't open all the windows in the house , contrary to now discredited advice ; do n't hide under an overpass . Opinion : How can we be sage from tornadoes ? If this liturgy of weather preparedness is part of the Oklahoma psyche , so , unfortunately , is devastation . Fourteen years ago this month , one of the worst tornadoes in history roared through Moore , Oklahoma , taking dozens of lives and hundreds of homes . Long after the initial cleanup was completed , the disaster was everywhere apparent . The branches of trees were gnarled by the winds into unreal shapes , their leaves growing close to the bark as if for protection . Neighborhoods that once were thick with homes seemed almost to revert to the fields from which they 'd sprung . For those who lost homes , it took months , sometimes years , to become whole . For those who lost loved ones , that never happened . That is why for the people of Moore , what happened on May 20 feels impossible . It is impossible that this happened here again . It is impossible to reduce the suffering to a number : lives lost , homes destroyed , damage expressed in dollars . For many , it must feel impossible to know where to begin to carry on . Inside a tornado-ravaged school . How does a community make sense of destruction on the level carried out by Monday 's storm ? In Moore , it began almost as soon as the tornado touched down . Teachers at Plaza Towers and Briarwood elementary schools threw their bodies over their students to protect them from debris . Survivors flooded the streets helping to dig their neighbors out from under collapsed homes . Trucks filled with supplies raced to the scene . We help . That is how we begin . It 's what we know how to do . Word just came from Red Cross Oklahoma that Oklahoma City Thunder star forward Kevin Durant has donated $ 1 million to disaster relief efforts ; Devon Energy , headquartered in Oklahoma City , donated $ 2.5 million . Thousands more from all over the country have donated what they can . For Okies , this is what home is about . Opinion : The making of a nightmare tornado . The `` Oklahoma Standard , '' exhibited to the world after the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City , after the May 3 , 1999 , tornado , and today , is who we are . What is on display before the world 's eyes is not only a community 's response to a disaster but an exhibition of something essential to the Oklahoma character . We make sense of disaster by showing up and doing what we can . We find meaning in a bottle of water , a rescued pet , a family reunited , an act of selflessness . These things -- and not disasters -- are what define home for us . Home , to borrow a phrase from the Bible , is where we live and move and have our being . It is not only where but who we are . Moore in bull's-eye twice , now we may know why . Our identity is in softly rolling prairies giving way to forested hills , in long stretches of horizon that make you feel like you could see almost to eternity , and in big skies stretched tight above it all . We have learned to watch those skies -- for blessings , for rain , for sunshine , for wind and for signs of danger . And we have learned to help . It 's in our bones , like red dirt and big skies . It 's what we will do now . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Nathan Gunter .
Nathan Gunter : Okies love the big , full skies , but watch them closely for signs of trouble . Gunter : Green clouds are bad ; swirl at edge of a storm pattern means take cover . We 've had our share of disaster , he says : Murrah bombing , previous tornadoes . 02:08 We make sense of it by helping out , finding meaning in acts of selflessness .