When Disaster Strikes

This past week has been an absolute nightmare in Houston. While we put our classrooms, lesson plans, practices, football games, and more on hold, we find ourselves desperately trying to patch up the wounds that Hurricane Harvey left behind. Any small reminder of making sure your copies are made or thinking about when to set your alarm to beat the first day traffic seems like a distant memory. We had not yet even met the students who will fill our desks before being thrown into this alternate reality that is hurricane Harvey. All I can think about as I look at my changing roster is that I know exactly why that student’s name was taken off my list. Many of my students are now homeless and displaced without basic necessities for an indefinite amount of time.
It’s heartbreaking and I feel helpless because I didn’t even know them yet.Â

My husband and I were fortunate enough to make it through the storm without flooding, but many of our immediate neighbors, close friends, and colleagues were not so lucky. As we watched the flood waters rise up our driveway and prepared our blow-up mattress to float to a neighbors loft, I watched images on TV of the neighborhoods that house many of my students – already several feet underwater. Between worrying about my students, my friends and family in all parts of the city, and my own home, it was an exhausting and emotionally taxing experience. Then, for me the waters receded, and the reality that it all went somewhere else set in. I felt guilty and helpless, feeling like my efforts to clean up a few houses or donate some supplies and money weren’t even making a dent in the massive destruction that was engulfing my community. Along with this came the guilt that if I had met my kids I would be able to check on them. Â How many kids could have received some extra help if we only had the chance to meet them first? They are suffering and don’t even know that I already love them and will do whatever I can in the 50 minutes I see them each day to remove them from the pain they’re experiencing at home.Â

But there is light in the morning. While Harvey has done damage beyond repair for some, it has brought an extra dose of selfless love and kindness to our community. I walked through the grocery store in the initial days of Harvey’s aftermath to find people insisting that other’s shopping carts merge in front of theirs. Strangers are flashing smiles to one another and saying “bless you” to sneezes of people they don’t know. Not that this never happens, but the frequency is clearly heightened. Â It’s amazing how empathy fills the hearts of the majority (contrary to popular belief), and to witness what that empathy looks like when everyone is filled with it at the same time is awe-inspiring.

Then it hits me – it doesn’t take a hurricane for disaster to strike in my students lives. This catastrophe reminds me that while this particular incident is attempting to destroy the lives of many tens of thousands around the city, there are isolated catastrophes which occur in our students lives throughout the year – many of which we will never even know about. Harvey has made everyone a bit more compassionate, selfless, and gentle, only because we are all so aware of the devastation it has caused. But what if you were not aware? What if Johnny is experiencing hell at home when skies are clear for everyone else? Will he be given the same gentleness that you will give all your students when they finally return to your classroom next week? It doesn’t take a hurricane to uproot a life. There are worse things – WAY worse things – and we cannot assume that they aren’t happening to our kids even when they appear to have it all together.

Harvey has reminded me to love my students like Harvey has hit everyday. When the homes are rebuilt and cars replaced months and years ahead, I pray that we will all remember to love selflessly and to allow our classrooms to be a safe haven each day, never forgetting to add that wink of gentleness. Not because it improves the learning environment, but because it may be the only time of the day that Johnny escapes his Hurricane.

God Bless Texas â¤ï¸

Kelsie

Here are a few reputable places to make monetary donations to assist the victims of Hurricane Harvey: