500 year flood- a year later....
So here we are again. A year later of the anniversary of our 500 year flood. The event that, at the time, was the most destructive non-hurricane event in the United States (It may well still be, but I doubt it). A couple houses FLOATED DOWN THE INTERSTATE! People are still homeless. The cost of the flood is STILL rising even a year later. Innocent people died.
Yet.
There is still money available from the government to those who want it. It has never run out! Why? Because people are turning away from it. Why again? They're stupid? Perhaps. They are stubborn? No doubt. They are self reliant? Hell yes.
After the floods came and went, I called my family around the country to tell them we were ok. They had no idea what was going on. National media gave us a total of 15 to 20 minutes. Granted there was a foiled car bomb. Granted there was the oil spill. Yet this was a disaster that the country overlooked.
And we said 'So what?' We went about our lives. No reports of looting. No properties were vandalized. Strangers driving from different areas bringing boats worth more than some houses and letting other strangers use them to save neighbors. One man on a jet ski saved a woman from a burning house that blew up.
We did nothing to call attention to ourselves. Not really. No evil crimes against humanity. No one was murdered. No cruelty. Nothing.
Reporters chipped in to save people. Strangers taking in whole families because homes were uninhabitable. Locals turning out to help save others items from the flood waters. Nashville Police Chief took another job in Louisiana and left a week later because we were handling the chaos so well. Awesome and inspiring things happened all around me and my family last year. Yet we were a blip on the national media coverage.
Destruction, chaos, heroics, people proving that humanity is still worth something.
God, how I wish People had noticed.
And in a way I am glad they didn't. We proved to ourselves that we are worth our own salt. Still are. People still rally around the 'victims'. Life goes on and we in the Middle Tennessee area do too. We were hit by something that you can't really comprehend until you see it. A 500 year flood? So what.
Yeah. So what. I look back at the photos of before, during and after. We changed. We grew. We go on.
We only had 15 minutes in the spotlight. We didn't even need that.
Yet.
There is still money available from the government to those who want it. It has never run out! Why? Because people are turning away from it. Why again? They're stupid? Perhaps. They are stubborn? No doubt. They are self reliant? Hell yes.
After the floods came and went, I called my family around the country to tell them we were ok. They had no idea what was going on. National media gave us a total of 15 to 20 minutes. Granted there was a foiled car bomb. Granted there was the oil spill. Yet this was a disaster that the country overlooked.
And we said 'So what?' We went about our lives. No reports of looting. No properties were vandalized. Strangers driving from different areas bringing boats worth more than some houses and letting other strangers use them to save neighbors. One man on a jet ski saved a woman from a burning house that blew up.
We did nothing to call attention to ourselves. Not really. No evil crimes against humanity. No one was murdered. No cruelty. Nothing.
Reporters chipped in to save people. Strangers taking in whole families because homes were uninhabitable. Locals turning out to help save others items from the flood waters. Nashville Police Chief took another job in Louisiana and left a week later because we were handling the chaos so well. Awesome and inspiring things happened all around me and my family last year. Yet we were a blip on the national media coverage.
Destruction, chaos, heroics, people proving that humanity is still worth something.
God, how I wish People had noticed.
And in a way I am glad they didn't. We proved to ourselves that we are worth our own salt. Still are. People still rally around the 'victims'. Life goes on and we in the Middle Tennessee area do too. We were hit by something that you can't really comprehend until you see it. A 500 year flood? So what.
Yeah. So what. I look back at the photos of before, during and after. We changed. We grew. We go on.
We only had 15 minutes in the spotlight. We didn't even need that.