Recently, a tornado ripped through my community. Our home was undamaged. Our neighbors a couple blocks west and a couple blocks north have been devastated…people and property affected: the trauma of living through the train/wind/rain barreling through a rather tranquil Sunday afternoon, seeing hundred-year-old trees uprooted and sprawling in all sorts of directions, homes damaged but repairable, and homes obliterated.
The immediate after affect was neighbors checking on each other, people clearing the streets as best they can, to assess damage and tell stories of where they were when it hit, how little time they had to get to the basement. Then, the city and volunteers come in to do the heavy lifting to get the streets clear, to get the neighbors the services, food, clothing, help needed immediately. After this initial effort, it will be finding homes, patching and repairing, then building new homes. It will take a few years to get back to a new normal. We don’t know what a new normal will be. We can create that new normal.
A friend reminded me that what our gift is like a tornado. The devastation and the immediate supportive friends. Then the rebuilding phase.
Throughout the tornado process, and the gift process, there are practical issues that need to be resolved immediately, reflection and planning for the future, then rebuilding and moving forward.
My Lesson: I’ve gone through a metaphysical tornado and I have the resiliency to weather the storm and come out just fine….and perhaps better.
I need to help my community weather the storm and draw on their resiliency to weather this storm, and come out just fine.
What do learn from my thoughts/metaphor/story?
What tornado has impacted your life? How are you drawing on your resiliency?
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