It’s all perspective. I’ve used that phrase quite a number of times over the past two weeks.
When my life is disrupted I feel I am having problems and have to find solutions.
Alone in a house in an evacuated neighborhood – stay the night with friends. No power for eight days – boil water on the gas stove for my coffee. Lines of 200 vehicles and two hours to get gas – drive 40 minutes to Louisiana where there’s only a few vehicles in line (all from Texas). Can’t get to the grocery store because of short hours of operation – a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast is just fine.
But when I sit and think, these are just inconveniences not problems. Because it’s all perspective.
I hear of people in Beaumont who say that Ike wasn’t as bad as Rita. Of course, these folks had their power back on two or three days after Ike made landfall with cable, internet and not here when the grocery stores were letting in people seven and eight at a time.
For these people, from their perspective, Ike wasn’t as bad as Rita. Power came back on quickly, maybe part of a fence down, but no real problems.
But think of those in other parts of Southeast Texas. Think of Ike from their perspective.
Think of Bridge City where fish were found in the front yard and shrimp in the living room. Think of Orange where family pets drowned from the storm surge. Think of LaBelle and Stowell where the salt water from the Gulf of Mexico has poisoned the crops and browned the pastures where livestock grazed.
Think of Sabine Pass where in some places not only were entire walls ripped off homes but furniture is washed away and even some buildings are gone from their slabs.
And what about those damaged churches? Where will the weddings, baptisms and funerals be held? Your church, your home, your community may be fine, but look at it from someone else’s perspective.
You just got your East Texas Catholic in the mail. Others in our diocese don’t even have a mailbox any more.
All these places and all these people are part of our community of faith, the Catholic Church in Southeast Texas. Think of this storm from their perspective.
