Good Things From Bad Situations...

I'm sitting in my office right now watching the Red River of the North get higher and higher and higher... it's currently predicted to be about 20 feet below it's flood crest which is supposed to come on Friday at 41'.

And it's raining.

What good can come of this? I was thinking about that on my (rather sleepy, jet lagged) drive to work this morning. It's forcing the community out and together. It's unfortunate that it sometimes takes crisis to bring people together, but it does seem to have that effect.

Where I really see this is in the local colleges, all three of them have cancelled classes today with the instructions to students to go help fill sandbags. Now, I don't know how many are helping given that Spring Break is over and my 10:30 pm flight last night was filled with college students returning from Mexico... but I do know that both of our part time people here who are college students called this morning to tell me they wouldn't be in today because they're out sandbagging.

So I really hope that these local college students are out helping out where they can, and lending a hand to their community, or adopted community right now. It's really an experience that, while the whole situation is unfortunate, will probably influence your actions later in life- being more willing to help out someone in need.

(I had a rude awakening this past week myself in Norway when I was hopelessly lost and was brought back to my group through the kindness of a stranger. I wondered if I'd ever do that for someone else...)

I'm glad the colleges are lending a hand- they're a huge part of whatever community they're in and the civic involvement that students can have should almost be mandatory (I think.).

Imagine what a world we'd live in in everyone pitched in every time someone truly needed help...