There’s been a lot of murmuring around Nashville, complaints that the national media had forgotten about us. Maybe they thought the flood was exaggerated. Maybe they just had other things to think about. Maybe they just think all there is to Tennessee is the Grand Old Opry … and Deliverance.
What maybe they don’t know is that Tennessee isn’t really prone to exaggeration. We aren’t a region that overly boasts. But we are the home to some of the best music, the best hospitals, the best food, and the best landscape our country can offer. We love slow food, slow evenings of wine and conversation, and a fast game of hockey or football. Our economy isn’t bad, we don’t pay income tax and everyone is generally in a good mood, most of the time.
So I was thinking…what’s different? Why aren’t we getting the media attention like other cities have?
And I realized it.
We love. We work. We clean up. We rebuild.
We aren’t looting.
We aren’t taking advantage.
We aren’t throwing rocks at police.
We are helping our neighbors, because that’s what neighbors do. We’re hearing stories of hope, of restoration, of mercy.
And if it requires our city to take on an uncivilized, selfish face to get the media’s attention, then forget it.
There is a sign on a church in East Nashville that says something like “God wasn’t in the tornado, God is in the response”, in reference to the tornado that tore through our neighborhood in 1998. This isn’t any different.
And after our neighbors are back in their homes, the music is back at the Opry and the Symphony Center and the Titans are back running on their field, we will know that our city is a stronger, safer more beautiful place, simply because the people love, and love well.
