Why we do those things we do....

Reports continue to flow in from Pearlington, a situation in constant flux as the town struggles to recover after Katrina.

I find remarkable the calibre of volunteers this disaster has attracted and what they are willing to do to help. So many have put their own lives on hold and have reached deep into their personal pockets to find the resources to come and help. Very few of them are free of the burden of earning their own living, yet have been willing to put their careers and their income on hold while they lend a hand. Some have risked their personal safety; some have left their families and their children behind to deal with the loneliness of being far from home in a somewhat foreign land.

We all have our own reasons for doing so. There is a common thread however, and in my observation the majority of us do it because it’s the right thing to do and because we have faith that we can and will make a difference: a difference to those we serve and a difference to ourselves. We want to know we mattered and that our lives counted in a way that’s meaningful to us. We want to lay upon our final bed and scan our lives, looking for bright spots and moments that mattered. We want to have adventure and challenge in our lives, not because most of us are too intense for normal living, but because we know that when our minds and hearts narrow to a single beam of light focussed on a simple outcome, we can create miracles.

And we like each other. We serve together in a trench of our own making and we rise above our differences and find what’s common to us all. We love and protect each other because we have to and want to and because we recognize that same spark in each other. When we fail, we are picked up. When we win, we share the celebration. The wisest among us concentrate solely on the mission and put all other considerations aside. We try our best to subvert our egos and work well with others. We rise quickly to our proper spot in the scheme of things that is a reflection of our skills and talents and we flourish there as the days unfold.

When we go home, and as we scramble to rebuild what our adventure cost us, we are changed. We remember how fast we worked and wish we had done more. We miss the excitement and the working together and know, deep in our hearts, we may never see each other again. We are sad it’s over - and glad we’re home - and wondering what comes next. We have “seen the elephant” and it will not be unseen. We are angry that the whole world wasn’t there with us, even as we fully understand why they couldn’t and shouldn’t be. We stitch ourselves together again, squeezing back into the spot in time we left, or wisely staying expanded and creating a new spot. We mourn for what we saw and heard and for the companionship we felt for Perfect Strangers.

Then, we take a deep breath and pray for the chance to do it all again.