Tuesday, November 22, 2005

A Salute to Katrina Volunteers

On yesterday's Oprah show, Oprah honored many Katrina rescue workers by being on her "Favorite Things" show. While I was bummed at first that I missed my opportunity to submit our story, as I was watching, I was reminded of some important things.

All of us, those who were named and those who were not, did something good because our hearts were big and our minds were determined. We were so moved by the horror of Katrina that we threw practicality to the wind and did something we felt was right. Nobody called us and told us to come, and in most cases, no one had time to respond to our inquiries about how or where we could help. A great number of us went blindly, and held fast to the belief that our help would be needed.

That ideal, that I could be useful and do something to help others, was what fueled me. I believe it was also the driving force for the mass grassroots rescue effort as well. And make no mistake, without all those people that threw caution to the wind--the people who took part in an extraordinary volunteer effort--the rescue and relief work in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath would not have been so successful. This is especially true for the pet rescue and relief (which is still on-going--don't believe the stories that tell you otherwise), but was not limited to just animal rescue.

In the midst of devastation and disaster, there were all these angelic grass rooters around that were being useful and helping others. It was a sea of compassion. So many different people from such varied backgrounds were bound together by a burning need to help. There was something special about seeing people in their real element, unburdened by the ego of who they were based on their job, education or ethnicity. It was a great leveling of humanity AND resulted in accomplishing great things.

WHY? My answer: Love, compassion, goodness and kindness. We proved that we don't have to destroy, damper, damage or darken to make important changes in the world. We simply showed up because we knew people and animals were in need of help, and we believed that if we wanted to help, we could.

So many miracles happened in the wake of such great tragedy. Let's not miss out on the most important lessons we've learned.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You are the best. And thank you for so eloquently expressing what happened, and what continues to happen. Compassion!

12:34 PM  

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