I guess I should have titled this “Heart After a Hurricane” or “Heart After the Dirty Side of a Hurricane”, regardless “Heart” is the key word here.

I sent this picture to my #MomsAsPrincipals Voxer group on Wednesday, August 23rd. I was annoyed that Harvey was going to create rain on our first day of school. Rain equals a mess for arrival and dismissal.  These women are an amazing group of people who “get” the life of a Principal Mom, we often share frustrations, victories, and ideas with each other.

I will admit that I am VERY skeptical of the hype the weather forecasters create so I really didn’t think it was going to be that big of a deal. I had no idea what “mess” Harvey was going to create.

As it turns out Harvey didn’t follow this path, it made landfall several hours southwest of us. However, it left a devastating aftermath on my hometown. This aftermath, though, proved to show the heart of humans.

I am fortunate to work in a diverse school with a diverse student and staff population. I have the opportunity to see love and acceptance daily.  It is so much a part of our fabric at my school that when I see hatred displayed on the news, I can hardly believe or understand what is happening. While we are not perfect at Matzke Elementary, my opinion (yes, maybe slightly bias) is that we are pretty close.  We don’t see color, religion, disabilities or differences as faults; we see them as attributes that we can learn from. I am sure my principal colleagues would say the same about their schools.

Watching the news and living this tragedy the last few days has shown me that humans, at our core, are good.  We are good and loving and compassionate and willing to risk our lives to help our fellow human (neighbor or stranger). I won’t retell all of the news stories here as I’m sure you have seen them, but you should know that people come together and help each other.  I have principals reaching out to me from across the nation (social media is a powerful tool) to see what they can do to help. I have staff members who are displaced but are donating to our students’ families who are displaced. Principals from our district are banding together to help those schools that we know have extensive damage, even principals who don’t know what damage awaits at their own campuses have rallied to help those we already know about.

I urge you and challenge myself, to remember the Heart of the Hurricane once this is all over and we go back to watching stories of hatred. The devastation in Houston, TX and surrounding areas is massive. It will be a long road to recovery but we are #HoustonStrong and we have the support of the nation.