Harvey's the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

The good, the bad, and the ugly but it’s not on the Clint Eastwood big screen

It’s real life in Houston, Beaumont and Port Arthur lands of flooded homes overflowing rivers and streams

The good is that it took very little time for boats manned by volunteers

In increasing numbers to aid neighbors, friends and strangers and friends start to appear

Texans who supported Trump most likely and whom Hillary branded as deplorables

Heading through the rising waters with devastation clearly described as horrible

Not seeking federal funds only answering the frantic calls of all hands on deck

As homes, businesses and dreams the wrath of Harvey’s rising waters continued to wreck

As humans to a person almost all of us would go without hesitation into harm’s way

To a save a dear friend or family member that rising waters would seek to slay

But the true test of humanity is when one goes into harm’s way to protect a total stranger

To somehow, someway overcome the raging waters to bring that person out of danger

In Texas we saw that time and time again, never a question of if, always only given the demands when

The bad of Harvey is the magnitude of the destruction and the time it will take for the waters to recede

The destruction of homes and businesses and the billions of dollars the victims to rebuild will need

The ugly is the mocking of rags like Politico and Charlie Hebdo with their cartoons

Implying the victims of Harvey are neo-Nazis or redneck Southern buffoons

The ugly is also the deaths that are believed to now stand at 37

Not riding in a boat to safety but oared by the Dark Boatman to the River Styx to heaven

That toll will rise but as of today no estimates of how many more will have met their demise

The ugly will also be the acts of those few whose looting, scams, and price gouging will come as no surprise

No matter how hard the people and government try to make the rebuilding go faster

A small number of victims and predators will not be saints in this truly historic disaster

But seeing the images of thousands of hard hit people coming together

Regardless of race, creed, political leanings or status we will this challenge weather

© August 31, 2017, Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet                              

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