UATV’s TJ Carpenter is in Joplin, Missouri where an EF-5 class tornado has just destroyed a significant part of the city. As some of the citizens attempt to pick up parts of their lives, and what is left of their homes, they are looking for beacons of hope. Many citizens who have just lost their homes are now flying American Flags all over the city.
It seems as though this icon in particular is one people are rallying around; they all have different reasons why, but one thing is evident, the American Flag is a symbol for people here in Joplin Missouri after a horrible disaster.
The damage done spans over six miles through the center of the city. Four days after the tornado hit, people are still searching for their loved ones and essential possessions. Sticking out of the rubble dominating the landscape are American Flags.
The tornado has left thousands homeless and hundreds more are either dead or missing.
“Everything started turning black,” said one Joplin citizen, “and the house started just trembling and shaking.”
“The wall behind got ripped off right away and then the wall on the side of the house got ripped off,” said Cassie Stallsmith who’s entire house was destroyed with her in it. “My fiance was in the front yard with my four year old – he couldn’t get her out of the car and finally broke the seat belt. Then he just put her between his legs and curled over her like that. She said, ‘I thought daddy blew away. All I could see was his pants.’”
Over 120 are dead and the official persons missing is listed at 232.
No symbolic gesture can relieve that type of devastation. But, it can remind us of the resilience of the human spirit.
One man even found time to volunteer his time after he and his family lived through the storm, their house damaged but intact. “We had time because I had so much help at the house and stuff and I had time to go down to St. John’s and that’s where we’re all meeting and team up and they would send us out from there.”
From flags hanging from church tents and volunteer camps lining the now clear thoroughfares cutting through the destruction and flags at half mast at a decimated middle school to the flags clinging to naked tree branches stripped of bark by the petulant storm – many people cannot convey why they think so many are choosing to express their reaction to the storm this way.
“I’m not sure if it’s the flags so much as the people and God. But it seems just like the community is coming together on it’s own.”
What they do know is how it makes them feel when they see it. Whether it be patriotism or community, solidarity or hope, it is certain people view the flags as a sign the people of Joplin cannot be defeated by even the fiercest of storms.
Nobody can really describe what’s happened here in Joplin. Many people don’t want to talk about it. They cannot find the words to describe the inconceivable damage, destruction or human courage they’ve seen here, but they can speak through their actions. People have found comfort in hanging American Flags or talking about God, but in the end, politics and religion go by the way side; community is what is important here in Joplin Missouri.
