"Look for the Helpers"

Hello ♡,

I am coming to you late this week after spending Fall Break with family and friends. We drove to Florida, and as we got into the drive we found ourselves joined by unusual company for the familiar drive.

Photo by Optic Media on Unsplash

On either side of us were caravans of military vehicles, loaded with fuel, windows rolled down. Each seat was full. They were going to help the hurricane victims. “Must be Federal relief,” my husband mentioned as we surveyed their strong presence together. I looked at the men and women inside the military trucks. I wondered who their families are, and if they were hot inside the trucks. Dozens of power company trucks, with their tall aerial work platforms were also headed south. I wondered about their lives, too. What they were putting on hold to go help. Who would help with the kids pick up or their elderly parents while they were gone.

Whoever they were, whatever their stories, they were all going to help.

And one thing that occurred to me that may have never occurred to me before this election season: They were driving towards people in need, regardless of who those people vote for. All these men and women in huge vehicles driving towards the need—without question, without hesitation, and headed to help.

Honestly, it choked me up. I was so moved that despite the deeply divisive, and at times hate and paranoia filled, rhetoric: there were the helpers.

Mr. Rogers has famously said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

And they were really something to behold.

They looked really strong.

And there were lots of them.

And I thought about how the attempt to make us hate one another isn’t working. Not fully at least.

Because here were the helpers, I saw them with my own eyes.

And I felt what I always feel when I see one of us helping another:

Here we are.

This is us at our best.

And it helped me remember what Mr. Rogers wanted all of us to remember: There will always be scary things happening in the world. But there will also be the helpers, those who refuse to be swayed and consumed by the hate.

As we approach the election and all the stress and chaos it involves in this unique time, let us remember that this is not who we are.

Look for the helpers.

Be the helpers.

With you,

Monica