While I passed people on the way home from an exhausting day out in the pits, receiving thumbs up from many passerby' and calls of 'good on ya mate', I finally heard the music that I was so dearly waiting for; the music of fulfillment and content. Today I am proud to say that nothing has been more life fulfilling than the seven hours or so of shoveling mud and lifting trash.
S
o there is a little bit more to the story than that but in the end, all it did take was a little bit of mud and a little bit of trash (probably a little bit 'more' than a little bit) to bring a whole community together. An initial crew of no more than 4 of us slid around to what looked like a war zone. Rocklea had turned into a pit filled with mud, dirt and most of all, rotten waterlogged belongings that needed to be removed as soon as possible. Arriving at our mates house, we stood in amazement as the piles of trash beside us grew pretty much instantaneously. With no time to stand shell shocked, we joined the 20 or so plus people already removing the cavities of his house to the bare. Once we joined, more followed and it seemed that with more commotion brought more help.
It seemed that Paullies house needed the most help with his garage jam packed with everything ranging from fishing gear to fish tanks to sewing materials his mum stored in case of a rainy day. From the time we lifted the first pile of trash to the time the walls were cleaned out by the next door neighbours pressure hose, nothing less of mateship and comradeship can be used to explain how we all worked together. Nothing seemed too heavy nor dirty, nor impossible as there was always someone willing to give a hand, someone who looked more dirty and someone who just kept going no matter what.
I get kind of emotional thinking how such a tragic happening can bring so many people from so many backgrounds together and work towards moving forward. When the last piece of heavy lifting was done, the people dispersed, off to help more unfortunate people, other people who needed the help. It was so moving seeing how willing everyone was in helping one another, we didn't hesitate at all to seek out those who needed our helping hand.
We finished 3 houses today and even though the completion of them made us sore to the bone and satisfied that we got through as many as we did on our first day; this is only just the beginning of an everlasting battle. One that will eventually finish, in weeks, months, even years. Today it is not the thought of how long this will last, but more a rather, when will we finish. I see an end. My faith in humanity has been restored.
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