Friday, August 20, 2004

So came week’s end.

But also a beginning.

Closed restaurants began opening. Teachers prepared for the resumption of school. Grateful customers cheered the return of power.

We were on the road to recovery.

A road with potholes -- ugly reminders of things suffered.

We grieved for at least 23 lives lost.

We slogged through days disrupted by an estimated $7.4 billion in damage. The hurricane demolished 10,000 homes, and left 16,000 more uninhabitable. Where will those thousands go? How soon before they get their normal lives back?

All the broken branches, and trunks sliced up like Thanksgiving turkey. What to do with the mess?

Thousands remained in the dark. When will power be restored?

Hard questions were buried in Charley’s wreckage.

But one was answered.

We know, now, how decent we can be.

We took turns at busted traffic lights. Pitched in to pick up debris. Fed the hungry, housed the homeless, comforted those without hope.

Some tried to take advantage -- complaints of price-gouging were highest in Orange County. But we called the law. We wouldn’t be pushed around.

Ultimately, in the gloom, we saw each other’s light.

Hurricane Charley took the measure of Central Florida. And we were found anything but wanting.