Ike Fatigue

This week has been at least 12 days long and I am really tired, like everyone else around me. Even a little grouchy. I have seen so much good being done by so many people, and so much need.

I don’t even know how to describe it all. Here are some twitters of what I have experienced. Trees filling my yard and the yards of those all around me. Large trees penetrating roofs. Power lines lying loose on the street like snakes. Long lines of cars making their way into the few gas stations open. Empty parking lots at nearly every shopping center around. Dark streets after dusk with black street lights. Sounds of chainsaws buzzing like giant cicadas. Piles of brush barricades lining every street in the city.

Eager volunteers with work gloves and tools heading out to take care of their neighbors and friends. People with cell phones glued to their ears. Unbelievable photographs and videos of catastrophic destruction on every screen. Long lines forming at every point of distribution.

Exhausted workers returning from a day of mucking out flooded homes. Frightened faces of homeless people wondering about their future. Relieved faces of those returning to find things still intact. Neighbors actually visiting, talking, telling their stories to each other.

I have sat in hours of meetings to organize hundreds of people to meet the needs of thousands. I have said good bye to two dear friends whose did not live to see the aftermath of the hurricane. I will officiate their funerals this week.

I have no idea what next week holds except more of the same. I know the time will come when the acute need of our community gives way to the chronic problems that will require many months to resolve. But for now the task is to stop the bleeding and stabilize the patient.