Reflections on the Trip - Steve Gintz

I'll admit, I've put off writing this for a week. I needed time.

Nothing's changed, so I guess its time to reflect. But how, Steve, HOW?

How can I be poignant without overdoing it? How can I explain what it's like to ditch the last spring break you'll ever have, exchanging beaches and hotels for debris and tents, thongs and tans for cockroaches and insulation-itch? How can I explain to any person looking at a screen how it feels to be called a hero?

We didn't even have to wear tights.

In all honesty, if seven days changes your life, how the heck can you EVER explain that? And concisely?  To random strangers?

Perhaps we can show them pictures of canoes in second story windows, and fathers riding mattresses like rafts while screaming for their lost children. Perhaps we can show them a concrete bridge which looks like the victim of King Kong hopscotch, just so they can see the power of the world, and the destruction it leaves behind. Perhaps we can show them cities, desolate and abandoned.

Perhaps we can show them videos of people crying for their lost homes, and again six months later, but because their new roof has just been completed and they can already feel the relaxation of falling asleep in a real bed.

There's so much hope, and so much love.

Perhaps we can show people what its like to find a home for a lost animal, to fix a daycare center, to give a child a playroom and a hard working mother a place to take a shower at the end of her day. Perhaps we can show the smiles of hurt people realizing they are not forgotten.

Perhaps we can show how pleasing it is to smash through a wall with a sledgehammer?

Perhaps we can show the unexplainable; the benevolence of an investment banker who's given up his ten-thousand-a-month cushion for a tent somewhere in Mississippi, the gracious southerners who, even though they lack a stove, will NOT let you work on an empty stomach, and we can show the eagerness of volunteers to get dirt under their nails and really DO something for strangers thousands of miles away. How can you convey a feeling of pride stronger than you may ever feel again?

Thing is, I don't think I can. So I'm going back in two months to get some more.

Comments

[Steve Gintz]

not a problem, mike. thank you and everyone else for the ability to do something completely different, and completely life changing.

[Greg Horowitz]

Hey Steve, even though we're family, this trip seems like you've changed as a person. It was incredible to hear that you were going down to help all of the innocent people down in New Orleans who have nothing left. As a member of our family, and as a person, it truly means a lot to know you! Thanks for everything you've done and will do in the future. It means a lot to everyone. Thank you!

[Dad]

I know that telling you how proud of you (and all of the others who joined you) would be unnecessary since you already know, but anyway...

Thanks to all of you!

[Cameron Ziegenfuss]

Steve, dude I feel the same way. I take pride in what I did, and enjoyed every minute of it. It's probably one of my proudest accomplishments in life thus far. Everyone I try to explain it to doesn't even begin to understand how amazing of an experience it is to help someone other than yourself. I try to explain it over and over again, and no one gets it. There's no way to describe the things we saw, the things we did, and the people we met. It's something they'll have to experience themselves. What sucks is that people are so caught up in their own lives, and work, and school, etc. that they feel like they don't have any time to give.
There's nothing wrong with that...but you and I both know that they're missing out, big time!
Call me when you go back down...give me like a month's notice, and I'll come with you. I can't wait to go down again.
Holler!

Cameron Ziegenfuss
camz@veracom.net

[BL]

Steve, I work for a small-town United Way, and it's wonderful to see the students who did exchange the sunny beaches for hard work in a disaster area. Thank you for all the work ya'll have done, but also thanks for being an inspiration and example to others. Your work has touched thousands of lives outside of the disaster area, I assure you.

[Alex Puerto Rico]

WHATS UP? THE WEBINAR JUST ENDED AND I AM CRYING. IT WAS JUST AWESOME BEEING IN TOUCH WITH Y'ALL. I MISS THAT WEEK OF MY LIFE SO BADLY. I HAVE BEEN GETTING MY STORY OUT BUT THAT IS JUST NOT ENOUGH. I HAVE TO MAKE A BOOK AND IF YOU GUYS WANT SOME OF YOUR EXPERIENCES IN THERE JUST EMAIL ME. tozai_pr@msn.com I AM JUST SPECH LESS... I LOVE ALLLLLLLLL OF YOU....

Alex from Puerto Rico

[bethany]

hey steve, i just wanted to let you know that this blog was so moving to me. im doing a pursuasive speech in one of my classes and i used an excerpt from your comment to motivate ppl to volunteer (hope u dont mind)...i think what u and all the volunteers have done is awesome, and im hoping to join you guys down there this summer....good luck

[Nancy Self]

My faith is restored!! I don't care what you hear about the bad youth of today - it's stereotypical and so not true! I applaud the unselfishness of those of you who GAVE your spring break to total strangers. You know, there will always be beaches, sun and time to hang with your friends. But opportunities like you've just experienced don't come that often - thank God. You know how it affected you personally, but you may never know the powerful impact that you have made on the lives that you have touched. No one can say thank you enough.
ps ... I work for United Way of Southwest Alabama, also on the gulf coast. While we had nowhere near the devastation of Mississippi and New Orleans, our community suffered great damage as well. The volunteers, churches and organizations who have stepped up has been awe inspiring. I'm proud to be a part of our human race!!