Beauty in the Rubble

CNN reports one way the people of our country are banding together to help teenagers in tornado-torn Alabama hold on to a shred of normalcy and find beauty and joy amid the rubble of their homes and lives:

CNN - Renarda Archie stands in the rubble of her home

"Prom night is fast approaching, and the halls of P.D Jackson-Olin High School are filled with excitement.
'Been trying on dresses for days, haven't found one that fits,' said Brandi Johnson, 18, a senior at the school in Birmingham, Alabama.
Rooms are overflowing with dresses and shoes. An office is being used as a dressing room. The girls stream in and out, trying to find the right dress.
'Not even at the prom shop did I have this many choices,' Johnson said while trying on her 10th dress, still looking for that perfect one.
The school wasn't damaged by the tornadoes that tore across the region last week, but some of its students' homes were destroyed, and some lost everything.
In neighboring Shelby County, a room is filled with racks and racks of donated prom dresses that have been arriving around the clock from as far away as Texas."
Continue reading the story...


Can you imagine being 16 (or 66, for that matter) and having your life swept away in one night? So much more beyond prom dresses are needed in Alabama, yet I find this a beautiful way people around the country are reaching out. Brandi and Renarda, and all the other young ladies, have a mountainous calamity from which to recover; huge hurdles and trials to overcome. But I think it is vastly important for them to have as normal a prom as possible. These young men and women need to see some hope - they need to know that there is still joy and merriment to be found in their lives, that it is okay to forget their problems and take the time to laugh, dance, and enjoy friends. They need to know that beauty can and will rise from the rubble.