harvey

A Gathering of Friends; Helping out after Hurricane Harvey

/ Chase Blosser / Leave a comment

When disaster strikes and you hear about it and see the effects on the news about all the hurt and heartache, and all the people and communities coming together and even though your emotions are triggered it still is not the same as seeing first hand without the lens #of #a television.  Being there in person and seeing up close the effects of the disaster just brings it to a whole other level and makes it real.

This is what happened to me over the weekend #after Hurrican #Harvey, in the Greater Houston Texas area. A couple who have been very good #friends with my family all my life was one of the countless many who had their house flooded. So I went down Friday and Saturday to help #out with cleaning up and moving their things to storage.

When I got down to the area and was driving through the neighborhood approaching the street my friend’s house was on; I was just amazed at seeing all the damage done by the flooding. Front yard after front yard was just filled with furniture and trash from the cleanups being done to the houses and both sides of the streets had cars lined up and parked with people going here and there like ants.

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Again seeing it all first hand was just so surreal and of putting things into perspective; yet at the same time witnessing the destructiveness and livelihood interrupted caused by “Harvey” I also learned of the unexpected blessings that can come out of such things. Blessings like friends, family, and neighbors coming together to help, and still finding time to enjoy life.

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The above has me in the middle.

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In the end, from time to time we will have devastating storms and natural disasters, and people will lose their homes and livelihoods and be left to pick up the pieces and rebuild.

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But as long as we all have friends and family to depend on, that’s all that matters. It is the coming of together of community in times of good and bad that make life worth living (even with all the crape) it throws at us.

Hurricane Harvey: Despair, Devastation, Yet Also Hope and Love

/ Chase Blosser / Leave a comment

After a week filled with so much #devastation #and people without a home due to flooding caused by #Hurricane #Harvey, everyone that has been “touched” in some way by the storm cannot help but feel just how “big” and life changing the whole experience was and continues to be. #Yet, at the same time with all the devastation and people displaced, one cannot help but be warm-hearted by seeing all the help that came and is still “pouring” into the Greater Houston area to help, as well as all the instances of neighbor helping a neighbor.

We as human beings and “Americans” in particular have a great and marvelous capacity to in times of crisis come together and help one another in whatever ways we can. No matter the divisions and differences that normally keep us apart, they all seem to always go away when we see each other in need. And despite seeing all the hurt and #despair happening over the week, I was greatly awed and inspired by this coming together that once again happened with another natural disaster.

For me personally, this is just so heartwarming because the last couple of years I have just been getting “so down” with all the division that has been popping up in this country over politics and so forth, that seeing so many people coming together and lending a helping hand to strangers in this time of crisis shows me that we are all still Americans and still care for each other at heart, despite our differences in life, beliefs, and so forth. It truly shows that there is still #hope for this great country, The United States of America.

It shows that despite all the division, we are still a nation of communities and are still able to look at the “bigger picture” and thus grow out of what divides us and focus on what we all have in common. In the end, with all our different beliefs and backgrounds, we are all the same. We all have hurts, joys, hardships etc.… That is what I saw with Hurricane Harvey and what I was reminded of. #Love, hope, and good neighbors still exist in this country and we need to remember that long after the effects of Harvey fade away. God be with all the victims of Hurricane Harvey and God Bless all those who responded with a helping hand!