September 23, 2008 4:00 AM

If it's Tuesday, I must be...wait, it's Tuesday??

Another day...and a little more incremental progress. It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the damage and the devastation and the stories that people tell me. Sometimes, it helps to look around and focus on the things that are beginning to come around. Every day, more people get there power back, more stop lights come back on line, more stores re-open, and more services become available. Of course, I'm talking about the Houston area. Find yourself in a rural area, as I did late this afternoon in Damon (Yes, I can now say I've been to Damon, TX. Yippie-ki-yay!), and it's a much different story. Frankly, the only thing working in Damon are the mosquitoes...and they're certainly in mid-season form.

Everywhere I go I see combinations of tragedy and triumph. It depends on where I go, of course, but a week and a half later, people here really are pulling themselves out. The resilience that I'm seeing in people here has been truly remarkable. It's as if, now that Hurricane Ike is becoming part of the past, people are realizing that all they have control over is what's happening right now. They can't undo the damage done, they have no idea what the future might hold, but they can certainly make the best of the here and now. That's not to say that everyone I run across has a smile plastered across their face, of course. Many don't, and it's understandable why. When it's 90 degrees, the humidity is hover around 60-70%, the mosquitoes are taking over, and you have no electricity, humor and bonhomie can be tough to come by. Generally speaking, though, people I come across are impressively and surprisingly upbeat. I find myself wondering if I'd be able to do the same thing under similar circumstances.

My challenge is to keep my spirits up, which can be a challenge after a day like yesterday. Working 15 hours will do that to you, I suppose. Still, this is my job, and I volunteered for this duty, so no complaints. Besides, I'm making a difference, even if only a very small one, and reminding myself of that helps. I also have the knowledge that when my rotation here is completed in two weeks, I'll return to an intact home. I'll also have a new-found appreciation for that home. I don't have to deal with flood water and sewage soaked into my carpet, I don't have a tree resting in the driver's seat of my car, and I have electricity. Things could certainly be worse...because that's exactly what I'm seeing here. I could still be living in Seabrook.

When I begin to feel all of this weighing down on me, all I have to do is to look around me and remember that I get to leave eventually. For several million people in southeast Texas, this is their day-to-day reality. I'm playing my part and doing what I can to help, and by the time I leave perhaps that will count for something. It's hard to think about that now, though, when all I really want is a decent night's sleep and a day off. Both of those things look like they're going to have to wait.

I pray that none you have to see and experience what I have. Obviously, if you live in Houston you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you don't...well, be glad that you still have air conditioning.

Time to face another day...and the mosquitoes.... Where's my five-gallon bucket of coffee??

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on September 23, 2008 4:00 AM.

The Giant Pink WHAT of Fate?? was the previous entry in this blog.

Didn't this used to be the Texas City dike? is the next entry in this blog.

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