Here we are again, state/national disaster. Oklahoma in the international news. Tragic stories and stories of hope and heroism are pouring out. Politicians are on TV giving interviews declaring that we will rebuild, we will push forward; We will heal. Eventually we will become critical of the governments response. It is all very predictable, how we handle grief and pain as a nation.
People are sending all kinds of things to help out, clothes, toilet paper, food, gloves, tools. The generosity that people in our world show during a major crisis is overwhelming. The news has actually told us to STOP GIVING STUFF! There is too much coming in and no one to process it. GIVE MONEY! GIVE MONEY! That is the song being sung on the radio this morning.
This is a major time of crises for so many of our neighbors. People have lost everything. The loss is overwhelming, people have died, children have died. It is so sad, truly. May God bless them all.
Right Now, no one cares if the people in Moore were on food stamps. Right Now, no one cares if the people in Moore were alcoholics. Right Now, no one cares if the people in Moore had bad credit, were on welfare, were dirty, smelly, stinking, mentally ill, unemployed, democrat, black, illegal or Christian. They aren't requiring that charity be a hand up instead of a hand out. They are giving money without considering if the money will be used in a responsible manner.
May I just say, without the national attention and without the tornado, this describes the lives of our neighbors EVERY SINGLE DAY. They are not all conveniently located in one zip code but every day hundreds of people go without electricity, have no running water, go without food, are homeless, are suffering. Every day families lose their homes, lose everything they own. Every day parents face the injuries, illness and death of their children...right here...in Tulsa. It may not be a tornado, but life's circumstances can hit a family just as powerfully and without much advance notice. Life is a F-5 rolling tragedy, there is no end, it just moves from one household to another. And our response can be just as generous and selfless and constant.
Nice way of putting things into a little perspective. Before the tornados were hit there were also thousands of hungry and homeless people, and unless our efforts are continuous there always will be.
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