She's OK, we're all OK

Fertilizer plant explosion, West, TX

(Mike Stone/Reuters)

Need a break from depressing news? I know I do.

Are you fed up with teenage mass murderers, mean-spirited religious leaders, and lying politicians trying to drown America in a bathtub? Oh, and how about those gun nuts?

Well, this cheered me up, and maybe it will you, too. It's a horrible tragedy, true, but those things happen (not to say we shouldn't investigate such things and work to make sure they don't happen again).

But it's our response to such things which really matters.

I've been home for a couple of hours..I'm exhausted..The blast was at the fertilizer plant and it's across town from where I live. Which is about 4 miles tops. But it destroyed: West Rest Haven where I did Jackie's Kitchen once a month, where my Granddaughter works with her mother who is the Activity Director. When it blew I was on the computer and it almost knocked me out of my chair..and I'm such an idiot..my first thought was "well, that little asshole North Korean does have a bomb." ...

When she told me the fertilizer plant had blown up and that the nursing home had been damaged I said I'm going. She said not to go that the other one could blow at any time. I said "I'm going."..I drove straight down Reagan Street and passed a house on fire and then on the right I could see the Jr. High School was on fire and then I could see the apts which are directly across the street from the nursing home and it was almost a shell..I parked in my usual place and got my flashlight and leaving my keys in truck and purse too and went inside..

 I along with a bunch of other people were taking residents out in wheel chairs ...water everywhere, the ceiling had falling, beeping alarms, insulation knee deep in places..I was soaked from head to toe..water leaking from the sprinklers and plaster all over the place. Each room with windows caved in, furniture upside down, beds turned over. The dinning room was a jumble of chairs and tables . One of the nurses said the building just imploded..the roof went up and then came down and the windows blew in at the same time. I can't describe the carnage..Blood everywhere..sweet old people huddled in their wheel chairs, some with blood all over them and some just in shock. The amount of immediate help was wonderful to see..They got all the residents to the senior center for emergency help. We went through the building about 4-5 times to make sure we got everyone. ...

I stayed with as many as I could till their family got there. I think I got back home about 1 or so..don't remember. I have blisters all over my feet and my back and legs are killing me..But I am not bitching..I have my apt, my cat, I didn't lose any family members, but lost friends.

We saw this in Boston, too - people rushing to help in situations of stunning horror. Even in complete disaster, this kind of behavior has to lift your spirits, doesn't it?

We Americans - we human beings - aren't as bad as it seems sometimes.