June 26, 2016

We live around the Washington DC area so the people in Virginia and West Virginia, devastated by the flood, are our neighbors.

So, I packed up the vehicle and headed south to help. The local heroes and heroines have already done the hard, dangerous work; both the ones who survived, covered in grime and horror, and the ones who gave all impressed on me a crushing vision of humanity’s effort to bind together in a time of need.

Some places are still without water, septic, and power. It seems bizarre to have this much water and not have water.

The water is receding and communities are in the process of clean-up and carry-on which is often more difficult than it sounds. How do you clean up mud, debris, and dirty water without clean water, how do you carry on without your wife, husband, children, or grandchildren when even the house you left them in is gone?

Despite it all, I think as a species we may survive when a small child saves the rest of her bottled water for a few flowers because she wants to help make things pretty again, too.

I had a different post planned today, but the reminder of individual acts, personal choice, and the ability for each of us to make where we are better than it was when we arrived seized my focus—and, we don’t have to wait for tragedy to do it.