United We are Strong

I thought, even promised myself that on the fifth anniversary of Katrina, would be the last time I would write about it.   But yesterday, nearly 8 years past Katrina, I really thought I had moved beyond the trauma, but as I watched the events in Moore, OK unfold  and saw the devastation I was reminded that those wounds may never heal. I recognized the shell shocked look in victims faces, the anguish of families awaiting word on missing loved ones and pets, and recalled the uncertainty of what was ahead. Yet while tears ...well up as I read the stories and look at the pictures, I am also reminded, that in these times of great tragedy is also when the human spirit prevails and we discover what the most important things are. As we stand in the absence of our material things, we are once again a community, united by a steadfast faith that we will rise above the event that has brought us to this place where we find our true friends and reset our priorities. It is not about nor has it been about the things we have but the people in our lives that make us whole. I vowed to never forget that lesson after Katrina. And in the wake of this tragedy in Moore, OK and the other towns impacted by devastation, I re-avow to never forget. Let those of us who survived, rebuilt, and prevailed after Katrina, send our thoughts and prayers to the community in OK and reach out to help them the way communities around this country reached out to us and show us why united we will always be stronger than any one of us standing alone.    Peace    TP - 5/21/13