The Midwest has witnessed some of the worst weather in over fifty years. The Tornados in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas have taken their toll on its residents and their families. The cost in property and the loss of life is devastating beyond most peoples capabilities to comprehend as the pictures do not do justice to the magnitude of destruction.
With all of the loss, and all of the sorrow the resilient American spirit prevails. They haven’t given up. Each and every day since the storm Americas people move forward with their lives trying to pick up the pieces as best they can, and in many instances there is just no place to put what is left of their former lives and belongings. The most basic of services that were taken for granted are now unavailable or in short supply. These sad events have touched almost everyone in the country in one way or another. It has touched my family with my wife’s high school being destroyed.
What is surprising is that the rescue and support efforts of charities is actually functioning as it should. The American Red Cross who has been absent or irrelevant in recent disasters such as Katrina and 911 were actually present to lend assistance instead of just taking donations to hand out years later after a public outcry and subsequent embarrassment.
Not only have charities risen to the occasion, but individual efforts, church support, and businesses across the country have taken it upon themselves to help out our fellow countrymen in a way that has not been seen in many years. Entertainers have donated concert tour proceeds to those in need, with one female country artist Taylor Swift donating from her tour over seven hundred thousand dollars.
In the face of great tragedy and heartbreak the American Spirit is alive and well. When one of our own is down and in need we are there to lend a hand to pick them up, even when they do not ask. I guess that is what makes our country great. When there is need in the world the United States is always there, and is usually the first one to help, and one hundred percent of the time we are the country that helps the most in every single worldwide catastrophe.
May God bless those who are suffering, and may God bless those who ease that suffering.
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