When tragedy such as a natural disaster strikes today, the world outside the affected areas tend to only see the damage and the heartbreak through television and the instantaneous magic of the internet. Additionally, once the disaster has had its time as a ‘current’ news event, it tends to slip into the background of those not connected in some way with the area that is in crisis.
The complications from this are many, such as the fact that donations to relief funds may stop coming in as time passes, making recovery harder, and the fact that it is yesterday’s news to the rest of the world may make it seem like the brave rebuilding residents of those areas are on an desert island, cut off from the world but still having to soldier on through the aftermath.
Once shining American jewels like the ‘Motor City’ of Detroit or the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina could tell you what happens when tragedy befalls its residents and the world has stopped watching.
There is a reason I brought up America and old fashioned American values that in modern times seem to have gone the way of the drive-in and the roadside diner – something that most in this country today were raised to have pride in, no matter what side of the political aisle you are drawn to or how many mistakes the American people may have made in its ongoing history.
Larger still, it is a Human trait, one that draws from examples in nature and is hard wired into our very essence to do to be able to continue Human history into the hopefully the far flung and bright future.
Ingenuity, hard work, rebuilding from within.
This country was a land of pioneers and survivors, people that were determined to make it under the most harsh and unrelenting of conditions because they believed in the value of their way of life and the desire to keep moving forward, no matter what obstacles and hardships may have gotten in their way.
It is easy for me to write, sitting here tucked away right outside of Chicago with September already underway and the next biggest weather event here being a blizzard or below zero cold spell that is most likely a couple months away at the very least, if it happens at all.
I made Texas my home twice and really enjoyed my time in Port Lavaca. I was able to experience a different style of life that I had ever seen living right outside one of the United Sates major cities for most of my life, and even different then I had previously seen of Texas living in El Paso in my teens, which when I lived there El Paso was still more desert than an oasis.
My heart and thoughts are with all those struck by this tragedy in a place I once considered home and was glad to have experienced and hope to do so again. The gift I have to send letters of affection every month to all of you has never gone unnoticed and this month this space is dedicated to all of you brave readers out there struck by the recent outbreak of severe coastal weather.
Stay strong and Godspeed.
