Steve Gibbs. File photo
We live in trying times but we are tough, resilient people. When disaster and chaos befall us, we answer with empathy and generosity.
Good people all over America are coming together to aid those thousands of folks in Los Angeles who have watched their homes go up in flames, a gut-wrenching experience for us all.
We know the pain Mother Nature can inflict. We have seen hurricanes and the grief they bestow.
There are posts on social media everywhere, here too, asking folks to donate to help those made homeless in Southern California. No matter your politics, these are our fellow humans and we will help.
On Aug. 23 and 24, 1992, a category five Atlantic cyclone named Andrew destroyed much of South Miami at a cost of roughly $26.5 billion. People stepped up to help, as they did in Los Angeles.
I lived in Key Largo for 50 years and, after Hurricane Andrew passed over South Miami-Dade County, my buddy Chris and I drove up the 18-mile stretch to Florida City to see if we could help.
Florida City, at the very south end of the county, looked like a bomb had exploded. Landmarks, such as street signs, buildings and billboards, were gone. Nearly everything was obliterated.
We drove deeper into what had been a working class neighborhood and stopped next to the skeleton of a large tree, bare branches holding shredded plywood and parts of at least one roof. Gathered under the tree were several people with children, huddled together in a state of shock.
A Dade County Emergency Rescue team, consisting of two males and one female technician, were treating them. We handed out water to zombie-eyed bystanders as others soon came to help.
Many survivors eventually moved south to the Upper Keys. We heard their stories of how everyone came together to help. Robert Moehling and his family, owners of the famous “Robert Is Here” vegetable and fruit market in Florida City, fed the dozens of rescue volunteers and power company employees at their cost. Most everyone pitched in to rebuild the city.
Years ago a Key Largo neighbor’s house burned to the ground leaving a mom and her teenage children homeless. A locally-owned motel put them up for several months while many of us pitched in to raise money and help them rebuild.
As well, in Fernandina and Nassau County are well served by our mostly tax-supported fire and emergency rescue departments. Let me tell you what happened last week.
My 100 year old father-in-law had a fall in our kitchen. He was hurt and we waited only a few minutes before two trucks drove up with uniformed professionals that gently inched him onto a stretcher and took him to the University of Florida Trauma Center in Jacksonville.
Their emergency room staff worked efficiently and made me and my wife - his daughter - feel like family. That one of the nurses is our neighbor who lives three doors from us in Fernandina was an added blessing.
Back home, where dad is a familiar sight up and down our street with his walker, neighbors all offered to help us. He is recovering and we are anticipating his 101st birthday in just a few weeks.
We know there is a world of political and cultural difference between the people of Nassau County, Los Angeles and South Florida, but when it comes to empathy and kindness we all seem to show up when times are tough.
A former college English teacher, truck driver, sailor, business owner, factory worker, investigative reporter and family man, Steve Gibbs has spent his life learning, observing people and, since 2010, writing novels of fiction. He grows vegetables in his backyard and enjoys adventures with his wife, Jane. Contact him at gibbsail43@gmail.com