ad astra per aspera

To the stars through difficulty.

Greensburg went through Hell. I waited a bit before traveling the 250 miles. My wife's school had put out the word that there was a need for something as basic as clothes for those who had lost everything. We drove a school Suburban packed to the roof with clothing of all types for all sizes and ages of people to meet with one of the County Extension Agents who was heading up distribution of that type of aid. It was surreal. I had passed through the town a number of times on travels to Colorado and the Oklahoma Panhandle. One of the local businesses for many years was operated by a family that had moved there from our neighborhood. Now, ninety percent of the town was simply gone. Holes were all that was left of many houses that completely destructed and took off with the wind. Bare slabs of concrete that had once been stoops and garages and driveways and the floors of houses now had nothing but dirt and remnants of trash to keep them company. Some of the streets were still littered with miscellaneous materials such that you had to zig and zag or simply take a different route. FEMA Village had been erected south of what was left of the town. Hoop-type temporary structures with canvas/heavy plastic roofs pretended to be hospital and medical facilities. The county courthouse still stood but most windows were gone along with most everything that could be blown through the gaping holes where the windows had once been. Fortunately, nearly everything surveyors would use was secure within the vaults. County workers were doing their best to return operations to normal. Some offices were in construction trailers stuck wherever they could put them. Before long a troop of volunteers surveyors swooped into town and re-established survey control on block after block. The County Extension Agent was struggling with guilt feelings. She and her family lived just far enough outside of town to be completely missed by the tornado. They still had everything while so many of their friends, co-workers and fellow students had nothing or nearly nothing.

Soon, all sorts of people came to town. Some were there to help. Some were more like vultures, out to feed their own goals off the misery of those who had been devastated. All sorts of people who promoted "green" were coming to Greensburg to push their own agendas and attempting to convince the locals that what they were doing was the superior way to rebuild the town. Most left when they found a more receptive audience in the next devastated community.