It’s too bad something catastrophic has to happen to bring out the best in humanity. Of course, our worst traits also surface as well.
Last night, for instance, I was appalled at a report I saw on a local television station about how they were inundated with rumors about rampant crime caused by the influx of evacuees here in Beaumont, Texas, from the hurricane. I just chalk it up to human nature in the wake of such a disaster plus being fueled by this Rumor-o-Rama machine that we play around on all the time called the Internet. Still I get ticked off at my fellow man (or woman) for automatically assuming the worst. I also cannot help but think a lot of such concerns are based in race and economic stature.
But screw that. I was moved almost to tears today at Reed’s laundromat on Phelan Boulevard. A lady who was an evacuee was washing clothes and the Asian gentleman who runs the laundry along with his wife came up and gave the evacuee gratis quarters for the machine. The lady was smiling but wiping tears from her eyes. I just stared at the machines in front of me. Last Friday, I had an assignment I was working on so I left my laundry at Reed’s to let them do it. Mrs. Kim, I believe is the lady’s name who runs the laundromat, told me when I picked up the laundry that they were giving evacuees a discount. I told her that was a very nice thing to do.
When I got home later that day I realized a sheet set of mine was missing. I didn’t draw any inference between the missing sheet set and the evacuees. I figured the sheets and pillowcases were just misplaced and I would probably never see them again. Fortunately, Mrs. Kim called me Sunday morning and told me she had found them. The world was suddenly much brighter.
Another instance of the kindness of strangers proved helpful today. This time, it was helpful to me.
I had lost the cell phone number of my friends Dave and Betti in Gulfport, Miss. I somehow felt they were okay but didn’t know how to contact them. I finally posted on a missing person’s blog through the Sun Herald newspaper in Biloxi. Still, I heard nothing.
Finally, yesterday I found a message posted by a woman named Mary Pyles whom I believe was in South Carolina. She was looking for her sister and her sister’s children in Gulfport. These people apparently lived in the same block as Dave and Betti, so I e-mailed Mary. She e-mailed me back this morning telling me she found her family members alive and well. Mary also said her sister lived behind Dave and Betti and Mary’s sister told her my friends’ house sustained only minor damage, and that she saw my friends out in the yard. I e-mailed my phone number back to Mary to pass along to her sister. Hopefully, I will hear from my friends soon. When I do, I plan to tell Betti — whom I have known for 30 years — that I knew she was too damned contrary to let a killer hurricane get her down.
PS Isn’t that a cool photo of the old Biloxi Lighthouse, standing there all defiant amid the ruins? It was built in 1848, was rebuilt because of erosion in 1860 and has stood through everything nature has thrown at it since. This photo is just a little signal that the Mississippi Gulf Coast may be down but it’s by no means finished.