My wife and I were born and raised in Joplin and although we've lived in Kansas for the last 14 years, Joplin will always be our hometown. We had to relocate Susie's parents to Topeka because their home was four blocks west of St. John's hospital - ground zero, if you will. My in-laws were buried in their basement closet for almost an hour before neighbors were able to dig them out. Two friends were killed in their home not more than fifty yards from my in-laws back door and the list just goes on and on concerning the lives destroyed, rearranged and turned upside down by that storm. It was grace that only 163 people were killed.
Draw a mental image of your community and then erase a third of it. That's what happened to Joplin.
While I preach capitalism, hard work and hustling to make a buck to my sons I could just as easily walk up to that tour operator and give him the beating of his life. Despicable is just the right word, Lawrence.
Joplin is very much a blue collar town with roots tracing back to the late 1800s when zinc mines employed so many of the area workers. Unlike other communities there is a strong work ethic that was evident within hours of the storm passing through. A FEMA worker commented to a friend, "Does everybody in this city have their own front loader and bulldozer?" Rather than wait for the government to move in and coordinate the cleanup the residents dug out their neighbors and then started clearing the streets so emergency and service vehicles could get through.
There were a few funny moments in the aftermath - a bit dark perhaps, but they still made me laugh. Joplin has its share of trash and several took advantage of the situation and started looting. When they were apprehended by civilians the looters were roped or duck taped to trees & utility poles, had signs placed around their necks identifying them as looters - one guy even Sharpied "LOOTER" on a scumbag's forehead - and were left in place until the police could attend to them, oftentimes 8 to 10 hours later. A friend on the police force told me that one of his fellow cops drove by his own destroyed house and saw a lady walking away with a sackful of his kids' video games and DVDs. He rolled down the window of his squad car and offered her a lift. She gratefully accepted saying that she only lived a few blocks away. He drove to a police checkpoint along the way and had her arrested. Jeez, even some Missouri National Guardsmen pocketed some small electonics after they were assigned to guard the Wal-Mart Super Center that was leveled. Their defense is that a manager told them all the merchandise was going to be written off and to take what they wanted. Nobody would have said anything if they'd helped themselves to bottles of water or soft drinks or snack food. But cameras? Hand held games? Nah. Some things just aren't right.
In an interesting study done after the Greensburg, KS F-5 tornado in 2007 researchers talked about the population shift that occurred after the storm. Renters left the town first and that certainly makes sense. There's no place to live so many of the victims moved away. The older citizens left next: homes gone, a major medical facility destroyed, many moved away to be closer to family members. And with so many businesses destroyed lower income folks gathered their belongings amd moved on to find another place to live and work. Those who stayed had businesses and homes to rebuild and drew their own line in the sand. The downside is that Kiowa County, of which Greensburg is the county seat, lost almost half of their population and of course that has an adverse effect on taxes which has an equally adverse effect on services offered to those who stayed.
The same thing has replayed this past year in Joplin: low income earners split, senior citizens vacated, (my in-laws lived with us for eight weeks and I can promise you that was six weeks too long) and those who stayed behind are rebuilding. The fact that so many are now on anti-depressants is troubling and it saddens me that so many are fretful when storm clouds start to brew up during hot, muggy afternoons. But, in time, raw wounds will heal and memories will fade and people will be able to rebuild their lives.
The public outpouring of assistance has been astonishing. The Feds stepped up like they should but the volunteers that poured into Joplin were just breath taking and a year later they're still coming: church groups and civic organizations led the way but the individual volunteers, like Shaintiques dad and my son's youth ministry group are still pouring in. There's this man from Japan who flew in over eight months ago to help. He's been camping out in a church basement and somebody gave him a bicycle so he can get around town. Apparently the cat couldn't even speak English when he showed up yet every day he rides down to the service centers and volunteers himself out cleaning debris, repairing damaged homes, sorting supplies, hell, it just doesn't matter. He came to help and I guess he'll leave when his visa runs out or there's nothing left for him to do.
Like him or not I'm grateful to our President for his public appearances in Joplin as well as all of the celebrities from Rush Limbaugh to Sheryl Crow to Barry Manilow who have given so generously to the town. Manilow sent in several semi loads of band instruments to replace those lost when the high school was destroyed. Crow donated a vintage automobile with the proceeds from the auction to provide relief. The car sold for well over double early auction expectation. And to all of you who gathered clothes and food or maybe threw a couple of extra bucks into the offering plate or at the Red Cross or United Way fund raising drives I say thank you. I truly appreciate what you've done.
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