The Kindness of Strangers
© Kay King

Sometimes recovery from a disaster begins before you realize it.

There are times when one simple act can change the way you see the world.

During the week following Katrina, I shed no tears.  At the end of that week, learning that my home had survived, I travelled from my "evacuation home" in Atlanta to the Southern Indiana/Ohio border where I was raised. My elderly Mother and most of my extended family live there and I felt the need to "go home" for a few days.

It's an area of small towns and farms.  Everything seems to stay the same there day after day and year after year.  I had moved from there many years ago when my sons were small and had never looked back -- and had seldom gone back either.

As I neared my destination I passed through several very small towns....and in every town there were people in the street collecting donations of money for victims of Hurricane Katrina!

The tears came without warning.  In the years since I left my home town, I had forgotten how kind and caring the people are.  Later I learned that each of these small towns had collected thousands of dollars to help the devastated Gulf Coast residents.

On my return to Atlanta a few days later, I visited a local grocery.  As I was loading bags into my car, a woman stopped, saying "excuse me -- but are you from Mississippi?".  She had noticed the license plate of my car.

When I said "yes", she rushed to me and hugged me.  "what can I do for you," she asked.  What a dear lady.

A week later, in a Walmart in North Atlanta, I was discussing Hurricane Katrina with the woman standing in front of me.  A few minutes later, as my items were totalled, a gentlemen behind me said "Please let me get those for you".  I declined, but felt I made a new friend.

Later I learned that this was happening across the country!  It has had a profound effect on the way I look at this country.  Somewhere along the road in my life, I had become cynical.  I wasn't happy with the direction our country seemed to be taking.  I thought the economy was a mess....thought people were shallow and demanding.

The selfless act of these volunteers changed my outlook within minutes.  Men and women giving up a beautiful Saturday to stand in traffic and collect money to help people they don't know....and likely will never meet -- their actions spoke far louder than any of the cynical thoughts I had grown used to.

This country is not the politicians....or the talking heads on TV.  The greatness of our country is in the people who live normal, day-to-day lives -- and who step up to help others when needed.

The author, Kay King, lives on the Coast of Mississippi, the area hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina.  For more information about the disaster and the steps being taken toward recovery,
please visit   http://www.1disaster-recovery.com   .