When I first heard about “Sandy” I thought of Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in Grease. What a fun movie with good cheesy music!! Of course, John Travolta probably cringes when he remembers it. I actually saw the musical Grease off-Broadway many years ago. What I remember most about it was the great music and Ed Sullivan was in the audience. My friend and I asked for his autograph. He graciously signed our playbills. I wonder if I still have that somewhere – it may be worth something 🙂
But after this past week when I think of “Sandy” I will think of the devastation of the Jersey shore, Staten Island, NYC and Long Island. I am almost relieved that I haven’t had electricity for the last week so I haven’t had constant access to the images of the destruction. The tiny images I have seen on my smart phone have been enough to give me pause and improve my prayer life. Friday as I drove home from my mother-in-law’s in South Jersey I was brought to tears by the sight of the Coast Guard vehicles from Miami delivering generators to the Belmar area. The sight of firetrucks and utility trucks from other states heading north was so encouraging that I wept again.
I guess what I want to say is many are suffering through the aftermath of Sandy and we should reach out to them. But there are other people who weren’t effected by Hurricane Sandy but have their own unprecedented events happening. May we not forget that each and every day there are people who have just received a diagnose of a terrible disease, or suffered the death of a family member or the loss a child or lost their home in a fire. As we reach out to those effected by Sandy let’s also decide to be more aware of the needs that are always around us. Let’s not wait for “unprecedented” to be a neighbor and a friend.
