The Common Effects...
Updated: Aug 30, 2019
Good morning everyone. Today is Patriot Day, a day of remembrance when America met the forces of terrorists in our homeland. Ironically, today, Patriot's Day also encapsulates the very definition of mankind as I see it.
As most of the civilized world knows, America is facing major surface wounds. Our poor country, as an island on this globe, has been facing many many natural catastrophes. We have had wild fires in the states of Washington, Montana, Oregon, and California going on. Texas has been faced with astronomical flooding and structure damage due to the impact of hurricane Harvey. And now, hurricane Irma came in off the southern coast of Florida and in its path obliterated island after island, some of which I never even heard the names of before, until reaching almost the center of Florida with its magnitude and size, flooding and damaging, before finally being downgraded to a tropical storm. Florida is still on alert with the possible landing of hurricane Jose. And I don't want to forget our neighbors to the south, Mexico, who has been faced with an earthquake of major intensity and hurricane Katia.
I promised myself before I started blogging, that I would never use my blog as a political platform, and I will continue to keep that promise. With that said, what I would like to say is that I love this country AND I love this world. I wish, with my whole heart, that the media around the world anchored more news about the kind acts of human nature with negativity being minimal. But I guess, evil would have to cease to exist for that to happen. And although my little blog is not a news station by any stretch of the imagination, I just want to report the incredible amount of love, patriotism, friendship, and human kindness that has all but engulfed Americans these past few weeks and today.
I have cried watching so many videos of all of what America (and other islands) has endured these past few weeks and have been in awe watching people scramble to help. Although only a few states were targeted for substantial damage with the arrival of the hurricanes, ALL of the United States remained attentive to the weather stations. I'm typing this with goose bumps right now because I saw businesses, churches, mission workers, and just about everyone from ALL over the United States make plans to stop what they were doing and focus on our fellow americans. Many made plans to house evacuees, many people in the construction world packed up their men and supplies and headed to neighboring states so that they could get into the disaster zones as soon as possible. Churches along with men and women of The Red Cross and other groups collected and collected food, water, clothes, hygiene products, etc. and drove hundreds if not thousands of miles to be right behind all the first responders to get to those in need. I saw our US Navy sailors pack up their bags, load onto many ships including an aircraft carrier and head out to sea to be behind the hurricane in order to dock and be available to help. Our National Guard has been to the islands that have all but cease to exist bringing in all we can offer, and airlines are flying in, trying to find runways to land, to pick up people and bring them to civilization. And let's not forget the international response. So many countries have offered aid and assistance.
Of all the interviews of tragedy that I've seen over the course of just a few weeks, the one that has most impacted me personally, was of a man from one of the islands calmly say during his interview, "...we have nothing. I only have the clothes I'm wearing. We have no food. We have no power. We have no shelter. All I want is for someone to come and give us hope; to tell me it will get better."
Can you imagine? To not feel hope...
For those of you who may be in my shoes and can't get to the devastated areas of the world, please pray. Say a prayer of thanks for those who are able to get there. Say a prayer of protection for everyone. And most importantly, say a prayer of hope. Pray that all those affected, no matter the circumstance the cuts through the human core; pray for them to feel hope.
My final note today is to everyone and anyone in the world. The common effects that tragedy brings are hurt, loss, sadness, and defeat. But with them brings more powerful effects of compassion, humanity, kindness, sympathy, mercy, and generosity. By sharing these powerful positive effects, we are all patriots to our mankind. Let us be reminded this and every Patriot's Day, that it isn't just an American Day of Remembrance, but a Worldwide Day of Recognizing what mankind can achieve in the face of tragedy.
