Sandy and Grace

Hurricane Sandy. I can’t even imagine the pain of those who lost some or all of their possessions, to say nothing of the loss of those they loved. Each night Brian Williams takes me to another scene of devastation and I flash on “what if that were our home—what if that were our city?” I can’t conjure an image.

Stories of loss are a part of the news cycle, but there are also stories of good people acting in good ways. A company that most days is pumping water from flooded customers basements after a water heater has leaked showed up. For days they have been going house to house to pump water from Sandy out into the streets to try to help people begin to recover. For free. For free.

Athletes who hoped to run in the marathon could have acted pretty ugly when it was cancelled on Friday—after they were already in town. The stories I’ve heard though are those of people who understand how Sandy became the priority. Disappointed? Sure. Griping and complaining? No. Or how about those athletes who volunteered to walk up twenty or thirty flights of stairs to take blankets and water to people trapped in their apartments with no power, no heat and no running water? Said one, “We thought we were in pretty good shape so let us to the climbing.”

These haven’t been isolated stories either. This kind of behavior has been commonplace, if not the norm. While I get “pitching in” or “we’re all in this together” kind of thinking, these acts of grace seem to be fueled by a different sort of attitude. I could be wrong, but I’ve sensed, “When you do this to the least of these, you have done it to me.” I’ve sensed, “Do for others what you would wish for yourself.”

I very much want to believe that many of these stories were of women and men who are motivated by their Christian faith. I want this to be a glimmer of light in an election season that has been extraordinarily rancorous. I want this to be a beacon in a world that reeks of an entitlement mentality. I want this to be a triumph of love. I want these stories to be a message to all who have ears to hear.

Peace, Jerry