| Beginnings - 8-18-09 |
|
Beginnings - 8/18/09 With the start of the school year this past week for many schools from kindergarten to high school and college classes following next week, I stopped briefly to watch the students enter their respective schools and was struck by the newness that the start of the school year brings for students, teachers, and parents. No matter what was part of last year’s school experience, the start of the new school year brings new hope, anticipation, and excitement. This has been quite intensified as the new school buildings have continued to be one of our community’s great bits of excitement. It then dawned on me how important this concept is in our recovery and growth as a community and in our individual recovery and growth journeys in our families. It is certainly a challenge to balance the pace of a community wide recovery against our own sense of recovery on an individual level. And the frustration that tends to develop when the two worlds of individual and community recovery clash is often best resolved by looking at it in the same view as the hope, anticipation, and excitement of a new school year. When the perspective of one month ago, three months ago, six months ago, one year ago, two years ago, four years ago is laid on top of our current experience there tends to be a greater awareness of our Recovery in progress. When each month is looked at as a new month that will be connected to those that have come and gone it certainly doesn’t end frustration but perhaps offers an opportunity to see a new beginning. Over the last several years, there have been literally thousands of projects, problems, and concerns that have been addressed and over the next several years there will be thousands more to be addressed. Some will happen quickly, some will happen more slowly, but as evidenced by the perspective of the last four years, things will get done. What a wonderful contribution to the recovery and growth on both the individual and community levels when we can keep a perspective of hope, anticipation, and excitement about the ongoing progress instead of a perspective of despair, stagnation, and monotony. I applaud the residents who have made their way back home and those who have joined us. The men and women who serve our community in this recovery and growth will continue to stretch their limits to address all parts of our community’s recovery and growth. Everyone wants to be free from the reminders of a community ravaged by Katrina and in time the visible scars will fade. For now, look for the signs that reveal that every day is a new beginning and as one day comes to an end a new day comes to a start. As long as we as a community answer each new day as a new Beginning, we will complete this mission of Recovery and Growth and as long as the residents and volunteers of our community see each new Beginning as a reason to celebrate, the experience of living through a recovery will continue to be a source of great strength and unity for our community. God Bless,
|
