Day: July 29, 2024

We may have come here on different ships, but we are all in the same boat now.   John Lewis

We had a hurricane here in the Houston area. In the aftermath of that storm just as with Hurricane Harvey from seven years ago we really did not think about our differences. Instead we knew that we were all in the same boat together and it had been a bumpy ride. We had a lot of cleaning up and repairing to do. After celebrating that everyone around us was okay we got to work sharing tools and brute force to get back to normal as quickly as possible. As we toiled in ninety degree heat we felt a commonality with each other. Our superficial differences of cultures, religions and races mattered not at all. We were simply a community of souls happy that we had somehow weathered the storm and its aftermath together.

As I drove around the city that is the home of six million people I saw the same camaraderie and resolve wherever I went. There were some tough jobs to do and some folks lost way more than others, but mostly we managed the four way stops at streets without traffic lights as politely as anyone might be. Houston was as strong and diverse and willing to pitch in to help those unable to do the work themselves as they have ever been. Somehow in difficult times we always put aside our differences and work together.

While the aftermath of the hurricane was sometimes difficult, it was wonderful to see people getting along so well. There were no discussions of our political divisions, no commentaries on the November election. For the moment we were simply focused on each other. We rallied to the challenges and overcame them together. We checked on our families and friends. It’s hard to imagine six hundred people mostly getting along so well, but that is how is was. 

As time goes by we will surely fall back into our routines and divisions. We will get sucked into disagreements over what is best for our city, our state, our nation as political candidates vie for our support. We may even forget how nice it was to just be a group of people with the common cause of making sure that everyone was alright. We will get busy being busy and perhaps only have enough time to wave as we pass by each other. We won’t feel as close as we do now until the kids fill the streets on Halloween or our neighbor, Patrick, has his annual Christmas party.  

We would do well to think about how great it felt to be working together the next time we get irritated with the political scene. Surely when all is said and done everyone across America is in the same boat just as John Lewis once said. We love our country and want  our democracy to thrive and prosper. We mostly hope to be able to celebrate the different cultures and ships that brought us to where we are now with unrestricted freedom. There should not be one way of doing things, one way of believing. Our ancestors came here fleeing from oppressive governments where they had little hope of enjoying the good life that we all have now thanks to their courage in trying something different. For some of us the ancestors never stepped foot on a ship because they were already here roaming the plains wondering who the invaders were on their lands. Still others were brought to our land in chains. Perhaps the ancestors even walked across a river or an imagined border hoping to find the same quality of life that we enjoy. However the people came to be here, we are surely now in the same boat. 

Our goal should not be to exclude a particular group or to elevate one segment of society over another. We should be dedicated to the same kind of idealism that drove our cooperation after the hurricane. We had to ration our water and our food but we shared whenever there was a need. 

I realize that resources in our world are finite. In America we are often blessed with more of them than those in other countries. We would do well to be conscious of our good fortune and to be willing to make do with with less so that more people will have access to the basic necessities of food, housing, and medical care. How much of a sacrifice would it require from us to help distribute our wealth to the sick, the infirm, the old? Most of us would never miss a dollar a day but that seemingly meager amount multiplied hundreds of millions of times would drastically change the fate of so many in this country. 

I’m hoping there will be no more hurricanes for a time. I am tired from bending and lifting and carrying the damage from the wind. It is very hot and will soon enough grow hotter. Those of us in Houston deserve a rest and a pat on the back. Once again we have done well, so why not pledge to continue to look out for each other in the choices we make at the ballot box. We really are in the same boat now, so let’s make the excursion a happy one for as many as possible.