On March 24, I hopped online to check my email. I pulled up the Yahoo page and saw a picture of sandbags, rising water, and hundreds of people clad in more layers than I thought possible to wear while doing such physical labor. Fargo was flooding and everyone in the community was working on building sandbag dikes. I was on spring break that week, and since spring break should be all about sand and water, I called up my Fargo-based teammate from AmeriCorps NCCC and asked if he needed any help. By morning I was on the road, perfectly caffeinated for the fourteen hour drive from Denver to Fargo. I spent the rest of my break moving and filling sandbags in a race against the rising waters. And when it came down to the waiting game, when all the sandbagging was finished, I helped clear a family's belongings out of their basement, just in case. It was the best spring break ever!
There is something beautiful about road trips. The road is far enough away from daily life to allow for true reflection and when the radio reception cuts out, I feel like I have tuned into a perfectly clear frequency of epiphany. On the drive home, I realized this: I love doing disaster work. When a community experiences a devastating event and a major break from regular life where an all-consuming uncertainty washes away normalcy, what's left is the core of people's true nature. Last year, I was with FEMA after the Wisconsin floods and Red Cross after Hurricane Ike. I saw the same thing as I did in Fargo: most people, when all is said and done, are good people. Many are so willing to help others, sometimes even before helping themselves. There is something truly empowering about a group of people working incredibly hard to pursue a common goal of good.
Not bad for having to write something on the spot...I usually panic in that situation. And I've been meaning to reflect in writing upon how much the Fargo trip impacted me. I'm glad in taking the next step, I had to look backwards.
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