Focus

Last Sunday, a group of local alumni from my college took a pot-luck dinner to a group of students and staff who had come down from Pennsylvania on their winter break to do some recovery work from Hurricane Ike. It has been 16 months since the storm and there is still plenty of work to be done. It was a fun evening, hearing stories, meeting students, and sharing our experiences in college, and memories from our own hurricane experiences.

Monday I went to my liver doctor for a follow up, during which the "transplant" word was discussed, and then got a call from my neurologist, who told me he had "interesting news." Interesting is not usually a good thing with my health. This was the beginning of a VERY intense week in the health saga. I saw a lot of doctors, had a lot of tests, and there is more fun yet to come. Sometimes things get so intense it is hard to know which crisis deserves to be front and center in my focus.

Tuesday a catastrophic earthquake hit in Haiti. My focus immediately shifted away from my own nonsense. Hundreds of thousands of people could be dead or die as a result of this horrific event. So, instantly nothing in my life seems bad at all, because there are these thousands of people experiencing unimaginable horrors in a very acute situation.Haiti is in crisis mode, but even after the initial intensity passes, the lives of these people have changed forever. The road back to "normal" will not be an easy straight path, but a winding and rocky one. Even if the people are not themselves injured, they have lost their homes, family members, friends, livelihood, truly, lost their lives as they have know them. Things will never be the same.

In Galveston, Hurricane Ike left physical destruction that can be measured, and assessed, and repaired, but there is also an emotional toll that can't be quantified. The fact that the Catastrophic Relief Alliance from Franklin and Marshall College, last week, were doing framing and dry wall on a hurricane damaged house 16 months later speaks to how long the physical recovery takes. What about the psychological repairs?

Everyone is mobilizing to provide immediate aid to Haiti to deal with the acute needs for food, medicine, water are being addressed by an international community. However, there will be a need for a long time to come.

A friend posted this on her Facebook status this week: (Thanks, Sara!)
"Taking the time to help others...helps to take the focus off of personal circumstances and redirects that focus in a more positive way..."

In thinking about ways to help the people in Haiti, while being reminded that there are still people in my own back yard in Galveston, Texas who need help, and that there are willing and generous volunteers to provide help and support has completely shifted my focus from my own health saga to how can I help others get through these very difficult times.

Interestingly enough, there may be a way that the group from my college does some fund raising to send aid to Haiti, and I may be able to help them with a coordinated effort here. So, yes, I have been distracted and busy this week, but not because of my medical needs. Instead I am focusing on how I can help others, even while I rely on others to help me in some ways.

I have also been awe-struck this week at the willingness of people to jump in and help me with driving, medical appointments...my mom even came in from Austin to help for a day. I have such great support, and I am always so grateful for this. I feel like the luckiest person in the world.