You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy!™
The power of the human spirit.
Everywhere I have been, people have been dedicated to purpose and faith.
I won’t and I can’t have been replaced by “I will and I am going to.”
What I have seen over and over again is a tidal wave of thankfulness that is as strong as the flood waters that saturated this region.
It starts at my own house. I lost some trees and brush and I am thankful it was not worse.
I go to my neighbors house and he talks of cars floating away and his entire air conditioning system having to be replaced and the word he uses is Thankful. “it could have been so much worse,” he says.
I go to the Pastor’s house who had three feet of water in his living room. All he has saved are pictures of his grand kids. He tells me he is thankful that they were able to save those.
He says they will rebuild, that this is a test in the Faith of God.
I go to the baseball stadium where the caretaker has lost nothing personally but his facility is destroyed. His $10,000 dollar infield is in Mississippi. His batting cages are filled with 20 pound catfish from the Cumberland. His 1000 pound ground tarp is on the first tee of the nearby golf course. Still the man smiles and tells me he is thankful, because nobody died here. He tells me that this can be replaced and it will be replaced.
The care-taker tells me that he is saddened by what has happened, but he is also energized by the spirit of a city, of a region, coming together to help without a question.
In the last week, I have seen it time and time again. Strangers stopping to help strangers. Neighbors helping neighbors before attending to their own disaster.
The flood can bring out the worst in people, but more times than not, it brings out the resolve of the human spirit. It shows people perspective, what is important.
If you didn’t die then you’re thankful. If you didn’t lose your home, then your thankful. If you didn’t lose all your possessions, then your thankful. If you didn’t lose anything then your thankful.
As I look at all the bent over river trees in my yard, I find myself wishing the flood never came. But in a strange way, I am thankful it did, because it has reminded me how much good is still inside all of us.
And that is crazy.