[00:00.55]Passage 66 Kindness of Strangers
[00:06.57]Our son Owen was born just as Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast.
[00:12.80]Two days later, as Katrina neared landfall, Owen began suffering seizures; he'd had a stroke.
[00:21.78]I didn't follow the catastrophe on the Gulf Coast as closely as I might have,
[00:28.56]but those weeks taught me some things about catastrophe and about the kindness of strangers.
[00:35.89]All catastrophes are personal.
[00:38.18]Some in the Gulf Coast sought survival; some sought to help others.
[00:44.64]Some prayed; some prayed upon others.
[00:48.69]At the hospital, we watched our son Owen sleep.
[00:53.39]Despite the tubes dripping and the monitors beeping, he still slept his baby sleep.
[01:01.06]My wife asked for the pastor; I asked for the doctor.
[01:06.19]She prayed for him. I held the CAT scan up to the light and searched for answers.
[01:13.20]No one can know what you will feel or fear in a time of need,
[01:18.67]but I learned that in this, the most difficult time of my life,
[01:23.37]the people our family depended upon most were people we had never met,
[01:29.07]people who we would likely never see again—strangers.
[01:35.40]We depended upon strangers, strangers who knew their duty was to help others.
[01:41.65]We depended upon the nurses who cared so well for our son,
[01:46.68]who cooed to him and caressed him, who watched me hold him through the night
[01:53.90]and never seemed to notice how ugly a man is when he cries.
[01:59.04]We depended upon the hostel that gave us a place to stay near the hospital,
[02:04.95]upon the members of my union who believe caring for our child's health should not ruin us,
[02:12.50]upon the doctors and clerks and ambulance drivers.
[02:17.53]We depended upon a commitment made to helping others.
[02:21.80]This commitment is a web that holds us together in times of need.
[02:28.25]By the time we took Owen home, the worst effects of Katrina were evident.
[02:34.60]I watched the images from the Gulf Coast, images of communities,
[02:41.05]lives and families whose fabric had been torn apart.
[02:45.76]I thought of that web of strangers that had embraced my family in our time of need,
[02:52.54]and that it is the most fortunate among us who are served best by it.
[02:58.56]I can only hope this web will be strong enough, that it will be spun wide,
[03:05.13]that it will hold and care for many,
[03:08.19]that we can all depend upon the kindness of strangers.
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