Amid the devastation.
Amid the overwhelming emotions—the fear, the shock, the sadness, and the despair.
Amid the loss — of those we love, of the homes we cherish, of the businesses we rely upon, and of the communities we call home.
Amid the recovery — the picking up pieces, the saving what is salvageable, the planning for the future, and the worrying about what comes next.
Amid the pain — the heartbreak, the anguish, the suffering, and the healing.
There is beauty.
Believe it or not, when everything looks broken—when all you see is ugliness all around you— there, among it all, is beauty.
It might look different for us right now, but it is still there because it looks like:
– A stranger hanging an American flag near a recovery site so that workers can be reminded that they are working for the very soul of our country.
– A demolished courthouse where a neighbor has rehung the Christmas wreaths on the door and sweeps dust and debris off the porch so that community members can safely come and pay respects.
If you can look, you will see the beauty in:
– Teenage boys working in pitch black so that the only light around can be from their church’s cross, reminding everyone that God is the light we need right now.
– A family’s home and belongings strewn everywhere, but their sweet family portrait or child’s favorite bear is left untouched.
– First responders reach across county lines to provide needed rescue vehicles to police officers who have lost their own.
– Neighbors show up with work gloves or boxes without having been asked.
– Families and people get into their cars, grabbing supplies and driving hundreds of miles to help people they do not know.
– The reminders from friends as you look at your destroyed business that “God will find a way for you.”
Beauty has been seen in:
– The gymnasiums packed with supplies, sorted by trembling hands, and a sign on the door that says “take what you need.”
– Opening doors to your safe homes for friends, coworkers, family members because you were spared and they were not.
– Baked beans cooked and carried in donated shopping bags because nothing makes you feel better quite like comfort food.
– Business owners clearing inventory they could have sold to replace what is gone in homes across their communities.
– Owners of food trucks stock them with every item they have to provide free meals to those who need them, no questions asked.
It is true that Western Kentucky has been hit hard. It is true that our hearts are broken. They are not likely to heal soon.
It might be enough to break some, but not us. Our souls are stronger than that because even amid the destruction, we have practiced what is the best of us instead of what is the worst. We have cooked meals, handed out water, helped our neighbors, and shown love.
It is what we do best.
And it will continue to be what we do when the pieces are picked up, and it is time to rebuild.
We will rebuild our communities based not on what is ugly and what is broken now. We will rebuild our communities on the beauty that was among us in the storm.
