The Kindness of Strangers
by
Jean George
copyright 09-13-2005
Age Rating: 10 to 127
Easy tears well up as I sit comfortably to view
The televised horrors that simply can’t be true;
Sharply focused details of lifetimes washed away,
Families that were torn apart and left in disarray,
The misery and wretchedness, anguish and despair,
The shaming loss of humanity too many forced to bear
I watch with a surreal, unwilling fascination
The growing magnitude of a city’s desperation,
The helpless, the homeless, the heart-wrenching grief
Of the countless thousands who waited for relief.
And when the help arrived to alleviate and tend,
A new hell just beginning, the nightmare didn't end.
The multitudes caught up in the great evacuation,
Displaced and destitute, are looking for salvation.
Sitting on their rows of cots they wait like supplicants
For news of lost loved ones, hope and deliverance.
Provided with sustenance and safe from most dangers,
They are dependent now upon the kindness of strangers.
Wiping tears from my face as the News show finally ends
I look around in gratitude at my family and friends,
Safe and blessed with a home and many worldly things,
Members of the fortunate and the privileges it brings.
Somehow it doesn’t seem quite right to have so much to share
And keep it all to ourselves with so many in despair.
People wait in shelters for someone who can give,
A hand-up, not out, a job, some place safe to live.
In hopelessness, fear and undeserved deprivation,
They think about the future now with anxious trepidation.
Remember that family who took refuge in a manger?
They too were once dependent on the kindness of a stranger.
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I saw a poem about you and I ask who you were and Roger rec amended that I read some of your work. He said your visual were amazing to say the least. So I told him I would and so I did and he was right. I live in Houston and I barely missed Rita but after hearing about Katrina I didn't know what to expect. I was on a bus with some of the refugees and I just listened as they told their story. they were so optimistic it was unbelievable and I can remember their words still ring in my head A mother telling her child "Baby this is our destiny"...
I don't know what else to say about this write, everyone else has taken the words out of my mouth. Thank you for writing what your heart beats onto paper.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful poem. Once again, Mother Nature, in her infinitesimal wisdom has found a way to bring so many people together, for the care of other people that are in desperate need of food, shelter and much love. The words you chose to describe the events of hurricane Katrina paint a vivid picture of the devastation caused by this natural disaster. I commend you for the work you are doing in order to bring relief to the needy of this horrible event.
This is a beautiful work that utterly left me breathless. You're right about that...a lot of people who came here to Vegas are finding shelter and jobs. A huge Casino franchise with seven or ten casino's around town opened enough positions to hire all the refugees here who wanted spots and hosted interviews for them.
Oh Jean, your words are eloquent and perfectly chosen as usual, but the last two lines really bring it all together with the single most perfect image of humility I can envision, next to the crucifixion. Your poem really stresses that no man is an island, and we produce yet our own suffering when we forget that. As per our correspondence, I again commend you for all that you've done to help your fellow human beings.
This tragedy seems enormous because it is on our doorstep, but think of how many such tragedies have happened around the world, yet we do not take notice because it is so far away.
If anything good comes out of all this, may it be that we will be more compassionate and caring when something happens in small, yet somewhat obscure countries such as Ethiopia, Somalia and others.
I read a story about a man that had an appointment with God. As the night went by, while he waited for God to arrive. First an old woman knocked at his door. She was hungry and the man gave her the sandwich that he had for the lord. Then a small child that was cold, knocked at the door. So the man gave the child the blanket that he had to warm the lord's feet with. Then a tired shoe-less old bum knocked at the man's door so the man gave him a pair of shoes and sent the bum on his way. After waiting all night, the next day when he spoke to the lord and asked why he had missed the appointment? God said that he did not miss the appointment, that in fact God had been there three times! We never know what God will look like and we should not care. Do unto others as you want done unto you! Your one of my new HEROES! God bless you, Anthony
As always I am lost in admiration upon reading your work.
You have put into words what so many people are thinking.
It was, and still is, a great tragedy, unfortunately from what we see via the media here in the UK, a lot of this could have been avoided. I hope that those responsible for ignoring the warnings are brought to book.
I admire you and the hundreds like you who are doing something positive, as in opening your home.
All I can offer is moral support. But I do know that like us, you will all survive and carry on with life.
Brian
Welcome !
