I am proud to be an American and many people nowadays want you to believe that we are the worst country in the world and that we are more divided than ever. I’m here to tell you that that is a lie. If anybody has a right to say that it’s true that the world is evil it would be me given what my family and I have sustained over the last 3 1/2 or four years. I have started over twice with absolutely nothing in that time and it was devastating both times. But in the last six weeks after surviving two devastating hurricanes, financial disaster, being homeless and literally not knowing what to do next, I can tell you that most people are good and I can also tell you that most people only believe what they see and hear in the media unless the have real world knowledge. I will take a person with experience over someone with opinions any day. All of this to say that I’m not too proud to tell you that I got pretty emotional today listening to my kids sing “God Bless the USA” today at school as they put on a presentation to thank our veterans for their service. So what makes me think most people are good when I didn’t used to believe that? That is a great question.
Most People Are Good
Living on the water has always been a dream of mine and it was amazing until my divorce began which destroyed that in a hurry. I literally had everything ripped from me with no noticed and one phone call and had to walk away from everything that I had worked for for 40+ years of my life. Not wanting to give up on that dream because of my pride, I promptly took my boat that I was living on (because I had nowhere else to go) and got another house on the water. Fast forward several years later, after dodging hurricane after hurricane the last two of them devastated us to the point where we were homeless. If you have never experienced a hurricane, you cannot understand the impact. Tornadoes come and they have no warning and no time to think. A hurricane comes and you have a week to prepare and worry, Get PTSD all while you don’t really know the track that it’s gonna take and whether you should evacuate or not. It becomes a guessing game and you have to make the best choice possible. With the last two hurricanes, there was nothing we could do but evacuate and let whatever was going to happen happen. In the aftermath, going back to the house, the neighborhood literally looked like a bomb had been dropped. There was literal debris everywhere and people standing in their yards devastated with a look on their faces that only someone who has been through this could understand. We lost everything that we owned once again and had to literally drag piece by piece to the curb to be thrown away. That came to remembrance for me as the song began “if tomorrow all the thing were gone that I’ve worked for all my life and I had to start again with just my children and my wife”, and not going to lie I got choked up and began to cry listening to my kids sing it. as I stated before it reminded me people are good. all you have to do it look with a different mindset. In that timeframe, every day for over 30 days, people brought hundreds of meals to the local neighborhood Civic Center to feed everyone who had no power and no electricity. Other drove through in golf carts handing out sandwiches and waters to those of us who were disposing every possession we own. Neighbors offered tools and supplies and other things to help as we tried to salvage our most personal possessions and belongings. I watched people cry together and people who had the same problem feel the same pain. I’m talking about people that were white, black, Hispanic, Asian, and Indian all come together as a family We were all people fighting the same battle. The media will tell you that all of us are enemies, and that none of us can possibly understand each other, but that has not been my experience with this entire state of Florida. Outside of the state even I’ve had people that I haven’t spoken to in 20 years send things for my children. Beds, bed frames, bedding, clothes, shoes, house goods and so much more. I’ve had former Business associates from other states send me gift cards for target for hundreds and hundreds of dollars and say” go buy what you need for your family”. Some even came over with cash because they were so devastated for us that they didn’t even know what to do. These are men and women, and they come from all different walks of life and different ethnicities and my kids and my new family would never have survived without it. But if you sit and believe the media, you will believe that we are all still enemies. And of course, there were those sharks who smelled blood in the water and went in for the kill in both my personal life as well as business and it would be easy to look at just that and become jaded and angry. Instead, we chose to look at all the literal miracles God did during this time. Even though sadly we had to let go of our home of nearly 3 years that created so many memories and such a safe and peaceful space for my children, we are excited to see what God will do next. This election has also given my family and I hope for the future and know that economically we could not have gone another 4 years of decline in dollar and lack of money in businesses. Either way, we put our hope and joy in Jesus and know that we will do just fine!
