Perspective

When times of turmoil and devastation occur, a person has time to really think and be somewhat alone with one's thoughts under the star filled night sky. As the dust starts to settle so to speak, and a bit of normalcy starts to get back in the thick of things; you have a sense of peace and calm within yourself. If you think about it, many people will have to clean up the broken pieces of their lives and completely finish, but others the broken pieces are merely superficial. Though not shown on the outside, the wounds that a person can suffer can be mental and need time to be repaired. During these times of sadness, one can witness people coming together and helping people they hardly even know. Being a good samaritan or fellow "brother" and "sister" and yet in these tough times one can be somewhat uplifted by certain situations that can put a smile on anybody's face.

One situation is that a person can find levity in times of the aftermath of a natural disaster. I once wrote that laughter is truly the best medicine and if one has his or her sense of humor then the times of hardship will be less stressful. My brother and I walked out to minimal devastation outside my house and we turned around and looked up at the roof and our mailbox was on the roof. I actually turned to my brother and said and I kid you not, "So I guess we're getting our mail on the roof now, huh?" A person just has to turn the most serious of situations into a situation where one can actually have fun and laugh about it and that is what myself, my brother, and a mutual friend of ours did and it kept our spirits up.

Another situation can be uplifting is that a family can become even more tighter than ever before. With technology such as television and the internet not working, talking with family keeps one's own sanity in check so to speak. In a way, they are the proverbial pick me up and/ or alternative to keep one's mind busy from the proverbial cabin fever syndrome. Plus, going back to school has been somewhat of therapy as well, keeping my mind focused which hasn't been the case in the past.I had the opportunity to sleep under the stars with the weather being so cool and it has been the best experience of my life. No television, just the radio and the stars is just a calming feeling one can feel. One can sometimes take for granted family until a natural disaster brings you together and tightens that loosening bond. Thinking about it, the technologies that we use on a daily basis are somewhat of a security blanket, but in a way, a person can adapt without it and I learned that in these past 7 days.

There comes a point where one is so used to the daily grind such as working in a youth center, that one is temporarily grinded so to speak, that it will make the people around you want to strangle you. My job has been considered a distraction of what has been going on in my life in which I can focus on the kid's problems rather than my own. During these 7 days my parents have witnessed how the kids that I have helped bring up for the past 8 years have had a positive effect on me even though I come home tired and somewhat miserable some of the time. BUT to tell you the truth, I am totally miserable without them and if that is what it is like to be a parent then I have come full circle. It took a Hurricane to open my eyes to that and that revelation has given me that fire back that I once had when I first started working at the Youth Center.

For the past several days, I have really had a lot of time to think and reflect about my life up to this point. There are certain aspects of my life which fear has held me back and that is about to change. In any case, I have been everywhere and met many people all the while leaving lasting impressions on other people that I cross paths with. Whether it be good or whether or be bad, I've made somewhat of an impression on somebody. This situation has shown me how I truly miss my online family as well as my working family. In any case, over the years, I’ve come across many people during my 27 years of life . I can safely say that I am somewhat of a keen observer of people and I'm a pretty good judge of character of people. It may be dead on, dead wrong, or somewhere in the middle. But, in retrospect, these past seven days have given me a better perspective on life that you will ever know...but who knows I may feel different next week.