Hope

I CLOSED MY EYES, wiped the sweat out, opened my eyes, and looked around. AS far as I could see, there was nothing but rubble. Hiroschima Nagasaki rubble. Berlin 1945 rubble. Nothing but rubble, to the horizon, in all directions. And not a tree standing, nothing standing, no shade, on a one hundred degree summer day, ninety percent humidity, with the sun blasting down.

There wasn't a soul in sight. Had everyone taken a break for lunch, or quit for the day? Where was I? How did I get there? Where was my car? Many questions, no answers. I was drenched in my own sweat, covered with dirt and scratches from hauling rubble all morning, dehydrated, sunburned.

It was an impossible job anyway. The tornado had destroyed everything, beyond repair, and there was no hope of ever making it right, no hope of ever cleaning up this nightmarish rubble, rebuilding, restoring.

I heard a noise in my pants pocket. My cell phone was ringing. Good, I thought, maybe I can get some help. I answered the thing. A friend in a far away place, just checking in, asking me how I was.

How was I?  I explained it all. How I was standing in the middle of an endless field of rubble, dying of thirst and heat, filthy, exhausted, depressed, lost, with no apparent help in sight. How in the hell do you think I am!

A year and a half later, the town looks raw, clean, scrubbed...and buildings are going up everywhere, skeletons, frames, beginnings, the new high school, the new hospital, a new house here, a new business there...

On this Thanksgaiving Day, during this holidays, during the upcoming yuletide, we have much to be thankful for.