Monday, May 9

Together

To my ever so dedicated followers, grab an inner tube, put on a little sunscreen, and open a fresh beer, because we are about to go stream of consciousness all over this blog. I am a very methodical when thinking and even more methodical when acting, but the reason I started this blog was to get out of my own way and just throw all my thoughts out on the page without having to plan, sort, or even control them really. So, here we go...

In the days following the tornadoes that tore across my state and most of the southeast I never really stopped to have any quiet time to really decompress and try to wrap my mind around all the damage that had really just occurred.  However, with final exams made optional and graduation delayed until August, time I would have spent studying and celebrating has been spent with close friends, dear family, and the love of my life.  It was over a period of just a few hours this past Saturday that I realized what would truly come out of all this devastation.  My father and I helped a family from church clear debris and move furniture out of their home in Pleasant Grove.  Most of their neighborhood had been leveled and was filled with relief crews helping in as many ways as possible.  These were storms that have destroyed homes that took some families a lifetime to build and fill with memories.  These were storms that destroyed the homes of students just trying to wrap up what we thought was just an ordinary semester.  These were storms that called us as a state, as communities, as families, as neighbors, as human beings, to step up and do something.  How could we possibly respond in the face of damage beyond description? How could students ever return to normal? How could parents tell their small children that everything will be ok again?

It's simple, we do it together.

I live in a part of Tuscaloosa where entire streets of houses were flattened, yet the families were out working to clear debris from their yards in preparation for rebuilding in the months and years to come.  I go to a university that mobilized every resource it had available to help students recover and begin the road back to normal.  Tuscaloosa may never look the same again, most cities in our state may never rebuild all the buildings lost, but neighbors will continue to walk across the street to offer a bottled water to the crew clearing limbs off of houses.  The Red Cross will continue to prepare meals for those without homes. Alabama power and government crews will continues to start early each morning and work long hours each day to repair power lines, phone lines, and roads until the day-to-day operations are restored to as many as possible.

From the time I set foot on campus in Tuscaloosa I have carried a chip on my shoulder to prove a lot of people wrong. I have been blessed beyond measure to never have friends or family doubt me, but simply carry the doubt of those who don't think people in the south can ever be highly educated. I have longed to prove everyone wrong who pauses and thinks "why not Georgia Tech?" when I tell them I went to the University of Alabama for mechanical engineering.  These storms have given me yet another motivation to accomplish outstanding things with the bachelor's degree I just finished and the master's degree I am continuing with.  I am a part of a generation of Alabama students who will help Tuscaloosa and the University recover and rebuild even stronger through what we accomplish. We will become a proud class of graduates. Not proud of individual talents, accomplishments, or accolades, but proud of our home. Proud of our people. Proud of our attitude. 

Saturday afternoon at 2:30 I was supposed to walk across a stage in recognition of the work I have put in over the last four years. Instead I was taking a nap in recognition of an early morning spent moving tree limbs in order to recover a house full of memories for one family. The most profound part of this wasn't any piece of debris moved away, it was the teams of complete strangers working side by side to repair, rescue, and rebuild. On a day I was prepared to make all about me, our Heavenly Father showed me accomplishment is never achieved by a single person, but alongside others. 

We have been knocked to our knees, punched in the gut by this devastation, but we have caught our breath and are ready to stand again. We are Alabama, and we are stronger than ever now.