Jackie Krawczak

At a recent weekly Rotary Club meeting, the guest speakers were three representatives from the Rotary Club of Kerrville, Texas.

This town may sound familiar because it was in the news often in the last few months. Kerrville, along with surrounding areas, experienced catastrophic flooding earlier this summer. Camp Mystic is in Kerrville, TX and sadly lost several campers and counselors because of the extreme flooding situation.

The three Rotarians shared a very informative presentation about their experiences before, during and after the flooding. One of the men in the presentation was part of a reunification process of Camp Mystic campers and their families. You can imagine how difficult that would have been. He didn’t always have positive news to share with families, sometimes having to tell them there would not be a reunion and instead there was a loss for their family.

When he was sharing his story, one thing he said that stood out to me was that he felt the United States values strongly during the experience. It was like the tragedy strengthened his respect for, and belief in, the United States of America. He said that seeing people come together to help from across the country, seeing donations of supplies pour in from all over, and learning about financial support that was given from so many, near and far, was a very powerful and patriotic thing to experience.

I could relate to the feeling. Because I felt it to a degree during the ice storms earlier this year in Northeast Michigan.

Neighbors checking in on one another, when they hadn’t in what was sometimes years. People giving resources to strangers when they could, even if it meant decreasing valuable resources for themselves in many cases. People opening their homes to others who didn’t have a heat source or running water. Folks checking on families with young children and looking in on elders to assure the most vulnerable and less able-bodied were OK.

People pulling together and supporting one another during difficult times is an impressive American value woven through our history. We all live lives of varying degrees of differences, but in the United States, when tragedy strikes, shows up as one nation, undivided.

I bet no one asked another volunteer who they voted for as they were searching for survivors of the flooding. I doubt anyone asked about gender or sex or pronouns of the people their donation would be used to help before sending money. I do not think that anyone asked if the person their clothing donation would be going to would have the same skin color as they did.

That’s the United States of American that I love. Not every country takes care of their own in this way. We do.

It’s unfortunate that this value isn’t omnipresent. It’s sad that it often takes a tragedy for us to check on one another, help each other out, put others’ needs before our own, and help keep everyone around us stay safe.

You know what isn’t a reflection of the country I love? Hate. Crime. Drugs. Anger. Selfishness. Ego. Division.

This country is an amazing country and one of the most incredible values we have, although frequently buried deep, is that we are one nation, united. Although there will always be differences, it is time we got back to acting as a united nation consistently, even with our differences, and not just in times of tragedy.

We all have the same eventual fate, and the sprint between birth and death is short. Why wouldn’t we spend some of that time adding value to another’s short sprint? Can we try harder to show up as a united nation more often and not only during tragedy or disaster?

Let’s work harder to embody the spirit of the United States of America regularly and consistently through acts of kindness, sincere care about others, and an authentic interest in the betterment of all.

Jackie Krawczak is president of Jackie Krawczak LLC. Her column runs every three weeks on Thursdays. Follow Jackie on X @jkrawczak.