And there it is: gratitude. In the form of a hand painted sign on the road out of town that reads, “Thank You for Helping Us.” Helene brought us a whole lot of destruction, disruption, loss, and suffering. But Helene also brought us together. It’s enormous: the disaster zone, but also the relief effort. Thousands of people across the region on any given day offering their time and treasure, working alongside complete strangers in the service of complete strangers.
And someone, in the midst of that suffering, with enumerable losses of their own, took the time to thank those of us who get to drive away unscathed. The light and the dark at play together in a dance that spins out before us and behind us for eternity. The grief and the gratitude. The pain and the joy. Interdependent, like us.