Going through my email and the news this morning, and my heart is heavy for all the people affected by the devastation of Oklahoma’s mile-wide tornado strike. The aftermath is just as difficult. My thoughts especially go out to the first responders, and the unspeakable pain that comes with doing you job, cleaning up a mess, making way for rebuilding, and then realizing that it isn’t just a mess, that this was someone’s home, that this was someone’s life. It’s a pain that can’t be washed away by tears, though the tears come.
General Schwarzkopf famously said, “It doesn’t take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.” It’s the same for our first responders. It takes a special kind of person to look into any kind of danger, be it hurricane, tornado, or act of terrorism, and go charging into it because they know they are needed. Pray for the families who have been affected by this terrible tragedy, but pray also for those who are risking even more to help those who need it.
Our first responders have been put through the paces this year, between natural and manmade disasters alike, and while I’m grateful for them, my biggest wish for them is the same as my wish for those of us in the armed forces – that we be there, that we be strong for when we are needed, but that we not be needed.
