Thanx for the ping Jersey! Outstanding read!
Anyone doubt why we are they greatest country to ever inhabit the planet?
Posted on 09/22/2005 10:08:14 AM PDT by outlaw1_2003
I am a truck driver.The Thursday after Katrina hit New Orleans I was on a run to New Jersey. While en route there, I was stuck in traffic on Interstate 81, just below the Virginia state line, (Bristol, Tennessee), due to a traffic accident with a fatality involved. This accident involved a tanker truck hauling a hazardous material load that developed a leak, which meant that we weren't going anywhere for several hours.
After being told by the Tennessee state troopers that we would be sitting still until the clean up was completed, I set my brakes on the truck and got out to stretch my legs. Other truck drivers did the same, and at one point there were 5 of us standing there by my truck, complaining. Sitting right beside me in the left lane were two elderly people in a Silverado pick up truck, which was loaded quite well. The man, (Joe), lowered his window and asked what was going on regarding the traffic situation.
Soon we were all talking with this couple. I mentioned that if I had known about this, I would have bought something to drink, (water), for I was becoming thirsty. The lady, (Anna), said that they had plenty of water and sodas in the cooler in the bed of the truck and offered everyone present something. While she was back there, she said that she had plenty of tuna salad made up, and asked if we would be interested in a sandwich. After some urging from Joe, we agreed to a sandwich. While Anna was making the sandwiches on the tailgate of the truck, she was singing like a songbird. To be close to 70, (I guess), she had a remarkable voice. When she finished making the sandwiches, and putting everything up, Joe raised the tailgate of the truck to close it. I noticed a Mississippi license plate on it. I inquired as to what part of Mississippi they were from. Joe said Biloxi. Knowing that Biloxi had been ravaged also by hurricane Katrina, I asked if they sustained any damage. Joe said that they lost everything but what they had on and what was in the pickup. All of us drivers tried unsuccessfully to pay them for their drinks and the sandwiches. They would have nothing to do with it. Joe said that their son was living around Harrisonburg, Virginia and that they were going there. He was in the real estate business and that there was a home that became open, and that they were going to start all over there. Starting over at their age would not be easy.
I will soon be 48 years old, and I have to say that I have never eaten a tuna sandwich with side orders of reality and humility. These people lost everything except the pictures, important documents, and some clothes. Joe had managed to get their antique heirloom grandfather clock into the bed of the truck and Anna got her china and silverware, but that was all. These wonderful people lost practically everything they owned and still would not accept any money for their food and drinks. Joe said that "it was better to give than it is to receive." They sought refuge behind a block wall that he had built years ago, and they watched their belongings and their home disappear in the winds of Hurricane Katrina. Joe said that during all this he had one hand holding onto Anna and the other holding on to God. Their truck and themselves came out of unscathed.
As I stated before, Anna was singing a song while making the sandwiches. The song is titled "I know who holds tomorrow," an old gospel song. She knew every word and was quite a gifted singer of it. Have you ever heard it? The chorus of this song is, "Many things, about tomorrow, I don't seem to understand. But I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand." There is no doubt, in my mind, who was holding both their hands. I know there have been many, many emails that have circulated over the years about things that will touch your heart, but this one I personally was involved in.
Forget all of the politics that the news is striving on, and think about people just like Joe and Anna. If you can, help out with the victim’s relief funds. If you cannot, at least offer a prayer for everyone.
I don't know about tomorrow,
I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from it's sunshine,
For it's skies may turn to gray.
I don't worry o'er the future,
For I know what Jesus said,
And today I'll walk beside Him,
For He knows what is ahead.
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.
Ev'ry step is getting brighter,
As the golden stairs I climb;
Ev'ry burden's getting lighter;
Ev'ry cloud is silver lined.
There the sun is always shining,
There no tear will dim the eyes,
At the ending of the rainbow,
Where the mountains touch the sky.
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.
I don't know about tomorrow,
It may bring me poverty;
But the One Who feeds the sparrow,
Is the One Who stands by me.
And the path that be my portion,
May be through the flame or flood,
But His presence goes before me,
And I'm covered with His blood.
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.
words by Ira Stanphill
A new Va. residents PING!!
Thanks for sharing this. They sound like great people of faith.
Wow that teared me up, I could just feel what a fool I would have felt like with a mouth full of tuna and finding out they had lost everything. Americans are wonderful people this proves it.
tissue alert....make it a double!!!!
I welcome Joe and Anna to my home state of Virginia...what a wonderful addition!
Yep. I concur about how many good people you can run into across this great country. Additionally, I am in a position that I meet & talk to truck drivers on a fairly regular basis, and I have found the overwhelming majority of them to be extraordinarily good people.
People like this are the real heart and soul of America.
Intact families...a marriage between one man and one woman..a mom and a dad who provide a decent upbringing for their children...
One thing you just can't seem to have too much of.. if you want one nation under God that can weather what life, and those who seem to hate it, throw at it..
imo
All True. Here in MS most folks are like these. People without walls taking time to help their neighbor put up their roof. It's the best thing about this state. I had the fortune to be at a meeting of addicts recently. At this meeting were 2 docs from CO. and one from CA. (down to help with medical emergencies) Each of them were humbled by the spirit and inner strenght and faith of the people of MS. The Doc from CO kept saying that he was "blown away" by the optimism and gracious spirit of the folks that lost everything. He said that he was a changed man. It made me proud of my neighbors.
People like this are the real heart and soul of America.
If it weren't for folks like this I would give up entirely! I was born in a little town in Kansas that still has a population of less than 800. That is the real backbone of this country. The cities are just breeding criminals and contempt for civilization. They have no idea what the rest of us are up to. 3
The DemonRants think they actually are speaking for the majority of the American people.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Democratic party is dissolving right under their noses and they refuse to acknowledge the facts. I for one hope they continue to show me their hind ends. If they can't see the forest for the trees, we have it made for the next 230 years! 
Should read for the next 20 years. I wish it could be for 230, but our representitives fall all over the power we have dropped at their feet and continue to screw it up quicker than we can vote them out.
Belated Mississippi ping
Thanks for the ping! Inspiring story.
You're welcome
Hoddy Toddy!!!!
I would've pinged it myself, but I didn't know how to get the entire list.
I just discovered you have it on your profile... Now I know for next time! :-)
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