Hope Is Half of Having

By Tommy Acosta

Sedona, AZ –Not only was that hurricane a devastation in the physical realm, but also a devastation of the soul as well.

Try to imagine what it was and is like for those whose homes, properties, businesses, families, friends, hopes and dreams were swept into oblivion by the rampaging floods.

No house. No food. No water. No beds. No computers. No toothbrushes. No clothes. No paperwork. No phones. No service. No electricity.

No communication with the outside world. No place to bathe. No place to go to the bathroom. No toilet paper, even.

No stores to buy anything.

No authorities to direct them.

Just mud. Devastation. Everything is gone. Panic. Disbelief. Shock as hopelessness plunges its cold blade into the hearts of those who lost all.

It’s unfathomable. Can we, living in the comfort of Sedona, imagine the magnitude of that loss? How will these people survive? Where will they go? Will their lives ever be the same? Ten, even twenty years from now?

Yes, there are thousands of good Samaritans, caring volunteers, who have joined in the massive effort to bring some semblance of hope and comfort to the newly homeless.

Authorities are working to restore electricity, provide sustenance, and shelter. But for so many, it will be weeks before they can have electricity or even return to what’s left, if anything, of their homes.

For farmers, their crops were ruined. The same for those in the beef and poultry business. Bar owners, hotel owners, small shops, supermarkets, movie theaters— all these outlets we take for granted are no longer there.

Yet, for those who lived through it, who did not lose loved ones or friends, their only solace is that they survived.  At least that. Even if the quality of existence now is nothing compared to what it once, was.

Physically, eventually, they may recover, but mentally? They may never get over it. Some will. Most won’t.

However, we humans are a hardy lot, and in communities where authorities can’t reach, people are banding together. Joining and pooling the little they have to help the neediest among them.

They can’t wait around for the authorities to come in and save them. They take the situation into their own hands and do whatever they can to ease the suffering.

If, anything positive could be gleaned from this, is that the human spirit at times is indomitable.

And people do really care for their fellow humans, as evidenced by all the volunteers pouring in from other states to help.

And perhaps the only thing, when all is said and done that may heal their broken spirit, is faith. Faith in a higher power. Faith in the Divine.

Those valiantly taking action against the almost impossible task of rebuilding from the wreckage, these are the survivors. These are the ones who will rebuild. Pick themselves up. Hose off the mud and go on.

They are giving the hope the hopeless need to have in this dire moment. Hope… is half of having.

The question each of us reading this must answer: Could we lose it all yet carry on?

Pray we never have to face such a challenge.