What Good Will Come Of This?

***This post is written in memory of those that lost their lives yesterday at the Boston Marathon as well as the others that have suffered because of it.  It is also written as a thank you to my dear friends who helped my family get through the devastating tornadoes of two years ago.***

I find this post particularly hard to write.  You see, today marks the two year anniversary since tornados ripped through Raleigh, North Carolina, leaving a path of devastation some sixty miles long.  That path included my neighborhood, demolishing at least six houses completely, and damaging dozens more including my home.  While we were fortunate enough to be out of town when the tornado roared through like a freight train, it is a date and a memory that I will never ever forget.  But it also taught me that from pure destruction can come good.

On this night following the unspeakable tragedy in Boston, a city I called home for five years after college, I would be remiss and selfish if I didn't look to my experiences from two years ago to spread hope to those in pain right now.  To speak about how good can come out of the darkness for all of those forever linked with yesterday's events.

Our destroyed possessions piled by the curb

I'll start by saying that I am not naive.  I understand the primary difference between mother nature's acts of two years ago and the acts of one or more evil wrongdoers yesterday.  But at the end of it all, the thing they have in common is that tragedy can strike without a moment's notice.  That a day which starts off as any other can end with you questioning everything about life, if you are fortunate to still have one.  I makes you wonder why you?  But it also makes you grieve to the question of why you were spared when others were not.  And it leaves you with indelible images and feelings that come to you when you least expect, or when other similar events flash you back to that horrible day.  For me, that's many of our family possessions piled high by the curb, and for others less fortunate, it's images of flattened houses or worse.  Much worse.  It changes you forever.

Neighbors and strangers pitch in to clean up my yard

But then you look around and see a rainbow.  Only this rainbow isn't a mirage, it's the bright colors of humanity shining all around you.  Yesterday, it was the thousands of bystanders who rushed to the aid of those who were hurt or worse.  On  9/11, it was all of those firefighters who rushed into the World Trade Center to pull people to safety at their own peril.  For me, two years ago it was the dozens of neighbors, church groups and reconstruction crews, who selflessly gave of their time and labor to clear debris from my backyard, to mow my overgrown grass filled with shattered glass, and to just say "I'm sorry" and "What can I do to help?".  At a time when my family felt so lost in our own home, our neighbors, many of whom we had but minor friendships with, made us feel at home again.  And while two years later I hate the sound of thunder, and a tornado watch feels like certain doom, I can't help but think of how that day gave me so much more than it took away.  It gave me faith in people, it gave me hope for the future, and most importantly it gave me new friendships that will last a lifetime.

So on behalf of those affected by yesterday's events, and for anybody struggling to come to grips with their own personal tragedies, I ask "What Good Will Come Of This?"  While each of you will have to answer that question for yourselves and only in due time, I remind you to look around.  To remember what is truly important in life and to find your own humanity in all of this.  I pray that the remembrance of these events lives on for you, not to serve as a painful memory, but rather to serve as a guiding light for your future.  I hope you find your rainbows.

A note from a neighborhood kid

Please take a moment to share a kind thought or an empowering story that might provide a ray of light to those in pain right now.