Just Imagine ....

I has taken me a few days to clear my head. For days I seemed unable to step away from the tv. It breaks my heart to see the suffering going on around us. But sitting here praying was not enough. Maybe physically going down to the Gulf Coast and helping is not an option, but in the last 24 hours I have learned that there is plenty I can do right here, from my seat in front of the computer. It started yesterday morning with a call from the treasurer of our our womens group. Life and circumstances seem to have gotten in the way and we are not as active as before. Our account was slowly being chipped away at with bank fee's. We decided to empty our account and donate it to the Katrina victims. As I made calls to inform the ladies, I started to hear about people who were taking in family and some who were even taking in total strangers. At one home in Alabama a lady had taken in 40 plus people and even my cousin had a brother in law who had taken in a large group. The latter was local so last night Marc went over to check on them. He also took water and cash for immediate needs. Friends on-line offered support, but even as we talked they were hearing of people being sent to their area ( some even as far as Massachusetts ). The one thing I noticed during all of this was that people wanted to help. Anyone who says that we as a people only care about ourselves must not know the people I know. And for the first time in many days I slept soundly. Not so much because of anything my family did personally , but because now I know longer have to imagine what would happen if my family was ever in a crisis ( or someome I knew ). No, I slept because I knew there would be those there for me if needed and if the roles were reversed I would do the same. All over the United States right now there are people who never imagined their life would come to this. But I also bet they never expected total strangers would step up to the plate and embrace them the way I have seen being done in the last few days. Just imagine if we all did this everyday , what kind of world it could be.