May, Day 20/21 ...on the Devastation in Moore, Oklahoma...
Since I got to work tonight I have been glued to CNN's coverage of the Moore, Oklahoma tornado. Sometimes it is easy to watch things like this and remain numb to the emotional component - after all, I don't personally know the people affected. But on another level, I do know these people - they are my fellow Americans. In fact, we live in the same region of the U.S. In fact...I experienced the Joplin, Missouri tornado two years ago, so I can very much empathize with the feelings of shock and devastation, fear and grief....
Two years ago, my house survived the storm (though it was damaged, and my car was totalled). I left a little while after the tornado to get some McDonald's across town (where the power wasn't out) for the family I lived with. Then I didn't leave the house again for several days. The destruction was simply too much to take in. (The power was out, too, so we didn't even have the luxury of news, and having a clue what was going on around us, like the people of Moore are probably experiencing now.) For months, especially at night when there were no street lights but only dark heaps of rubbish or empty lots, I couldn't drive across town without crying. For at least a year when anyone recounted their experiences of that day I cried, too. I still panic when it storms, especially when the tornado sirens sound.
I feel sorrow for my neighbors in Oklahoma. I think about the years of hard work in rebuilding that stand ahead for them, and the expense to be paid out by FEMA...such tremendous loss.
And the children....
Lately I have been more attuned to tragedies around the globe. People are people, and when they suffer, I try to make it a point not to remain numb anymore. People deserve empathy. They deserve community. They deserve for their fellow humans to care about their plight.
Praying for those in Moore tonight. Until you've seen a city destroyed by nature with your own eyes, you simply cannot fathom the surrealness of the situation...the extent of the picture not captured by cameras....
I hope in the days and months to come the people of Oklahoma will be as overwhelmed by caring neighbors as Joplin was two years ago. That is a small bit of good that can come out of such a disaster. That, at least, can renew one's hope in humanity!
A shocking day. RIP to all those who lost their lives.
ReplyDeleteThoughts and prayers are being said around the world, such a disaster.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
Your words are beautifully written. You put 'pen-to-paper' and cast Light into the World.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your words of Hope.
I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like. Those poor families and what an indescribably horrible feeling it must be to step out and see total devastation.
ReplyDeleteWhat a heartfelt post. I can't imagine the horror and the devastation that was wrought upon the people in Oklahoma and around the world when it comes to natural disasters. My prayers go out to them all.
ReplyDeleteA family member lives in Missouri, and not too far from Joplin. When she came for a visit, she was telling us some of the stories, at dinner, that she knew about. Of course, most of them were tragic. I had to swallow hard, and I did cry. One of her stories involved a father taking refuge (trying to) inside a Home Depot with his two daughters. In the rubble, they found them huddled together. I'm sure you know that story all too well.
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to sound glib when I say that I feel for you. Not only did you deal with your fear, loss, etc, in the aftermath, but when it happens in another community, I am sure that is hard to take. Like a replay.
I was in the Lubbock, Texas Tornado of 1971. I was a child, in a van, which my father pulled behind a gas station to wait it out. I don't remember it consciously, but I have frequent nightmares of twisters on the horizon, headed right toward me. So I guess some part of my brain remembers. For us, we all survived, and though there was damage everywhere, we did not lose our house.
I feel for them in this difficult time, and appreciate your post.