Some didn’t know a storm was coming.
Lives and property damaged or destroyed.
Streets and basements turned to mud.
Cars crushed. Houses carried away.
The dependable flow of life overturned.
It was all different: Food and water, fuel and blankets, medicine and advice, shovels and backhoes, insurance companies and governments, helicopters, four wheelers, horses and trucks. Working and waiting. With friends, family, neighbors, and strangers. Or all alone.
People we knew as strong and well suddenly needed our help. Or we needed theirs.
People who needed help looked at the people who came for them in a way they had never seen before.
People we barely noticed became precious.
We had a new place in one another’s lives.
The sound of chainsaws and generators faded. Hydrology and road construction were handed back to the pros. Fresh water- and fuel-storage techniques stored away for the future, we carry on.
Our training served us well. In strength and spirit. At times and in places we couldn’t predict. In ways we never imagined. It continues.
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Post copyright © 2024 Jeffrey Brooks, MountainKarateNC.com, Yamabayashi Ryu, Mountain Karate, Saluda, NC
Photo by Jade Day Burdett
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read True Karate Dō by Jeffrey Brooks
“One of the best books I’ve read in years, inviting and compelling. Jeff Brooks moves effortlessly from martial arts to Buddhism to consciousness studies, self-transformation, and related fields in this wide-ranging and Illuminating study that has much to offer both novice explorers and veteran practitioners. A splendid achievement.”
— Philip Zaleski, Editor, The Best Spiritual Writing series