Tears for a stranger

This past week has seen my part of the world turned upside down. The flood crisis in Queensland worsened dramatically with flash flooding in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley. Lives were lost, homes were decimated, businesses were destroyed. I, along with so many others have been glued to the television, horror increasing with every passing minute at what was taking place. Cars being flung about like matchbox toys through the streets , businesses destroyed- their stock spilling out onto flooded streets, houses ripped from their stumps and torn apart as if they were made of match sticks. It was likened to an inland tsunami and there was no warning.
I reach a point often where I can no longer watch the telecast. It is so heart wrenching that I have to turn it off. But for those living through this disaster they dont have the luxury of switching off. This is their new reality- one never asked for just thrust upon them. This disaster took men, women and it took children, it didnt discriminate.
I often see the news and my heart goes out to the victims that appear daily. But when its your own town, a place where you lived, where you have family, where you shopped, whose streets you walked down often and whose towns you drove through and taught at it makes it so much more devastatingly real and horrific. And the tears come easily. Tears for strangers you see on the news, who you dont know, have never met, but for whom you hurt as if they were your closest friend. Tears flow freely For the lost and those who lost loved ones, for the rescuers who did all they could and will now live with the scars of lives they could not save, for the premier who has shown such enduring strength and leadership, for the people whose homes and businesses were destroyed and who may now be unable to claim insurance.
But throughout there have been glimpses of beauty and strength that make me so proud to be a queenslander. Seeing those brave rescuers- my brother among them- risking their own lives to save the lives of others. Seeing the resilience of people who have lost so much yet who have not been destryoyed.  Seeing army officers so gently cradling small children whom they have rescued- as gently as if it were their own child. . Seeing how so many have rallied around to help with donations and as the clean up begins. One cannot help but be  proud. And when you see this you know that they will survive what has been thrown at them, they will endure the grief and grow. And that is perhaps the most amazing thing of all.