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Tuesday, August 29, 2017

WHEN LIFE KNOCKS YOU DOWN_Hurricane Harvey



On this day in 2005, Hurricane Katrina 
made landfall near New Orleans 
as a Category 4 hurricane.

It caused more than 1,300 deaths 
and caused more than $130 billion in damages.



{Getty}
 


But as Hurricane Harvey proves,
 tragedy is not found in numbers 
but in solitary lives.

The aftermath of tragedy lasts far longer 
than the duration
of the event itself.

Tragedy springs upon us in many forms.

How do we rise when they hit?


The lab results that shook you to the core.  

The harsh retort that cost you a relationship.  

The needed car repair that costs more than you have.

Life has a way of continually knocking you to the ground without warning.  

Sometimes you don't know if you have it within you to get up one more time.

You don't have to continually get up.  

You just have to get up one more time 
than they knock you down.

And that means adapting to the present, thinking outside of our usual responses to stress.

We have been brought low by the myth of HAPPILY EVER AFTER.  

There is no such thing.


Our endless and impossible journey toward home is in fact our home. 

There is beauty, laughter, and friendship along our journey, 

but if we focus on the maybe happiness of a future with goal won, we will lose today ...

 We will have lost priceless treasures existing in our Now by the searching for Tomorrow's  fool's gold. 



The hidden thing about crossroads 

is that we never know we are at one until we have made our decision and are reaping the consequences.

Sometimes the way ahead is not clear.

Yet "Impossible" just gives birth to legends. 

* When I was abandoned at six on Skid Row in Detroit, 

* When my home burned to the ground with no insurance, 

* When the love of my life died in surgery, 

* When my whole city was forcibly evacuated from our homes --

 I hit bottom all those times.

Bottom gives us a place to stand, to rise, to reflect upon what is left ... 

to perhaps see a new path to old goals or hidden roads to new ones.

Wilde wrote that insanity was trying the same things repeatedly and expecting different results. 

We must take different steps to reach new destinations.

Each blow, each wound, each set-back has a lesson for us if we but stand back and reflect. 

Those things have shaped us and surviving them has made us stronger, wiser.

There is beauty, there is humor, there is hope ... 

perhaps those are the only lights in Man's dark world. 

In tragedy and in despair.

when an endless night seems to have fallen, 
hope can be found

in the realization that the companion of night 
is not darkness,

that the companion of night is day, 
that darkness always gives way to light,

and that death only rules half of creation, 
life the other half.


That is the great thing about life:

Though it is often cruel, it is also mysterious, 

filled with wonder and surprise; 

sometimes the surprises are so amazing that they qualify as miracles,  

and by witnessing those miracles, a shattered person can sometimes discover a reason to live.

Often I am scared down to the marrow of my bones, 

but I keep telling myself that as long as I have laughter, I am not without hope.

In my blog, I always try to find something to laugh about.  

May laughter be our companion today, leading us to a new goal or the realization of an old one.

7 comments:

  1. I've been anxiously awaiting a post from you. So glad you seem to have made it through okay.

    I think some people see the headlines and after noticing that Harvey was downgraded to a "tropical storm" rather than a hurricane, think "Oh, well then. That's not so bad." I've read just enough in the papers to know that this "mere" tropical storm has still done a lot of damage.

    Here's hoping you and yours won't be affected too badly by all this.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for being concerned, David. Harvey is still not through with Texas or Louisiana I am afraid. :-(

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  2. Glad to hear you are OK so far. I will call NOLA to see how they are faring, my husband's family there. Ironically, one auntie and uncle escapted to their daughter in Houston during Katrina, now I wonder and hope things will not be terrible in New Orleans and that their daughter's family is OK in Houston. I pray that you and kittie will be safe. Sending love, Inger

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    1. Thanks, Inger. Houston is having a hard time of it I fear. Midnight is curled up by my feet as I watch Wonder Woman on Amazon. He says she has prettier legs than I do -- which is a good thing, right? :-)

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  3. Hi Roland - I think Kittie has it right ... but kittie is with you and real. Glad that so far you haven't been affected too much -

    Houston is going to be suffering badly for a long while, and the surrounding areas - I sincerely hope Louisiana won't bear too much brunt - but low land with large deltas don't help ...

    All the best for you - cheers Hilary

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    1. Beaumont was really hit hard last night sadly. Lake Charles is soaked but hopefully the worst is over for us! Thanks for caring, Midnight says of course he is right. He is always right! :-)

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  4. Hi Roland. I'm glad you're okay. I live in Disaster Land so events like Harvey are inevitable. What a disaster. But disaster can bring out the best in people. Some of the stories have been heartwarming. You stay safe there with Midnight.

    Thinking of you and all those affected, then there's the 1,000 dead in India and surrounding countries. And so on...

    Denise:-)

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