I read the news online each morning to keep my finger on the pulse of the goings-on in the world. The pounding that mother nature inflicts on us and our stuff is such a regular aspect of our news, that I know I am completely desensitized to it. I feel badly about my blasé attitude and how quickly my eyes bounce off to the next story. However, behind each news story are a host of real people who are dealing with very real suffering and very real loss. Yet I sense that you don't actually appreciate the positive developments that occur in the aftermath of such devastation until it happens in your own local community. I think that's because T.V. news stations really like storms for the photographs. It's a real ratings booster to show buildings and cars that have been crushed like balsa wood models in a wind tunnel. But there is something good and warm and wonderful that emerges after such a storm passes that the news programs never seem to show. Something that you witness only when things happen in your own back yard. There you see that people actually reach out and offer what they have to those most deeply affected. These people are regular folks like you and me. They are not missionaries or do-gooders or clergy or sandal-wearing corn-nuts.
Not too long ago, my local community was hit by a series of tornadoes that did some horrendous damage to a school and several neighborhoods. Three folks were killed in the storm. However, immediately after the sun came up the next day, many folks were offering up their spare bedrooms, their pantries, and their stuff to help out those most affected. When you hear stories like this, it shows you that there is more to humanity than all of the negative crap that seems to saturate the news day after day. So, to those who step up when disaster strikes, I say A+ America.
