All is Lost. Hope Remains.

For those that have not heard, and I would expect there are probably a lot of you...Northeast PA and NY state were greatly affected by recent flooding.  By I mean greatly I mean severely.  It was not Katrina size damage, but for this part of the United States, an area that is not normally used to natural disasters and the like...it was pretty devastating.  

When I had first heard about the flooding and the damage it had done to the area, I had wanted to help in any way possible.  I am currently residing in Scranton, PA which, although not affected by the flooding, is surrounded by towns that were severely affected.  This is my new community and I wanted to do something to help.  However, like with any natural disaster, it is hard to know where to even begin.  Things like this do so much damage and it's hard to know where or how to help.  Like, what usually is the case, I just kept the people affected by it in my prayers, and hoped that something would come up that would allow me to assist. 

Of course, because my life is perfect (jokes)...something did come up.  One of my roommates received an email about an elderly couple that needed some help moving some things out of their house and cleaning up their property so four of us took our Saturday morning to go and see what we could do.

They lived in a cabin right on the water overlooking a gorgeous waterfall.  In their backyard was a dumpster and hundreds of their belongings just lying in the grass, covered in mud.  An older man named Herb told us to start taking the stuff in the yard and throwing it in the dumpster.  Among these belongings were old videotapes, photo albums, books, and other sort of treasures that this couple had saved throughout their forty years of marriage.  

When you think about it is just stuff.  We think they are priceless treasures, but it does come down to just stuff.  However, this couple has saved them and at some point in time they represented a great deal of importance to them.  They were memories, good and bad.  They were special occasions.  They were history.  

We spent an entire Saturday taking this couple's collected mud covered memories and moving them into the dumpster.  The wife was so thankful that we could help, and I was grateful to have the opportunity.

However, the entire time I could not imagine if this had happened to my house.  My family, like this couple, keeps everything.  We have old family photos, old memorabilia from little league, books, and every other thing we haven't looked at in years but can't part without, because it is still all sitting happily in my basement.  

If a flood were to come sweeping through northern New Jersey and take all of this from my house, ruining it, and scattering it across my lawn: I would be devastated.  It is unimaginable for me.  

I associate natural disasters with people like Herb and his wife, because I don't personally know them and throwing out their belongings was sad, but manageable...they were not my memories I was throwing out.

A few days later I checked in with a friend from Binghamton, NY and see how her family made out with the flooding. She informed me that her family lost their house.

Suddenly the disaster was closer to me than I had ever thought.  It was not just an elderly couple who I had no ties to who lost everything.  It was a friend who had always had a stable home and life and suddenly, with one bad rainstorm...lost all her childhood memories.  

Naturally, I wanted to help again, but how do you replace the irreplaceable?  How do you help someone who has lost everything?

In truth the things that these people have lost are just that...things. They are stuff that we put in basements, say we can't live without, but forget were ever there until we realize they are gone.  

Both families who have lost their possessions still have their family, they still have relationships, and more importantly...from all that...they have hope.

When we have community and relationships we can rebuild, we can modify our lifestyles.  Losing everything is so unimaginable because we stress so much importance on materials and things.  When we lose things from our past, we feel as if we lose our entire memories.  However, when we have family, community, and other relationships...we can make more memories. 

Just like the elderly couple: we can rebuild.

It's hard to do that, we don't know where to begin.  Just like my community who so desperately wanted to help out those around us we don't know where to begin with rebuilding our whole lives.

I can't really imagine losing everything my family owns.  I don't know the loss and pain that must feel like.  However, I have seen those who have be gracious and humbled by this loss and realize the most important thing: they still have each other, and there's still hope to move on and grow.