"I promise you not a moment will be lost as long as I have heart and voice to speak..."

"...and we will walk again together with a thousand others and a thousand more and on and on until there is no one among us who does not know the truth:"

The more things change, the more different things start to look. I had planned on writing a reflection on this past semester around this time. I had planned on writing about my fraternity and my pledges, about school, about church life. I had planned to be enjoying some time not having to worry about too many things before the "real world" began after graduation in December. I had plans. But that seems like a semester ago in itself.

Then a tornado came and mixed things up. No metaphors or symbols or anything like that here. A literal fucking tornado came through and did as it pleased where it pleased. Routines are gone. Things are gone. People are gone. To hear people talk about it has mixed results. Some talk of survival; most talk of tragedies. At first it made me feel fortunate that it wasn't like Katrina or Japan or Haiti. At first we we weren't on that list.

I am here at the church, as I have been since Tuesday. That's where I'm told I'm needed. Not to do much physical labor. Not to give much instruction on what to do or where to go. I'm here to give people support. To let them know what has and is going to happen. As the days go on, I can't say they're getting much easier. The life of a support beam is not an attention grabbing one. Most people see them, but never notice how much work they are doing just by being there. I know not everyone is fit to have that kind of job. I'm not sure I am completely fit to have that job. But it's mine all the same.

When people ask me what I have done to aid in relief, I can't say a lot. I can't say I went out and cleaned up debris. I can't say I took food to people who needed it. I can't say I've been physically worn out everyday since the storm. I can say I've been here to listen to people who need to talk. I can say I've said thank you more times in the past week than I could ever start to count. I can say I've gotten people in touch with who they needed to talk to, for whatever reason. I can say I'm still here, and will be until I'm not.

there is no future without love."