“Nothing can withstand the power of the human will if it is willing to stake its very existence to the extent of its purpose.” Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister.

True Richness Comes from Within

On a hot and sticky summer afternoon, June 13th, 2008, I was rolling pizza crusts at Polak’s Pizza in Sparta, Wisconsin. My personal life was a mess. I had recently moved back home from Florida leaving everything behind to get out of a bad relationship; sometimes sacrificing the material things in life in order to gain a sense of self is worth it all.
I am working under the table at Polak’s and cycling 22 miles a day roundtrip to get to work. In those days I was content making the authentic, freshly rolled pizzas, loaded with grated mozzarella and the locally flavored Italian beef sausage. During the summer months we left the doors open, hoping the tantalizing smell of our freshly baked pizzas would lure more customers. Our motto was “If it doesn’t burn your mouth when you eat it then it isn’t fresh enough”, and we genuinely enjoyed seeing the smiles on customer’s faces as they devoured the crispy thin crust pizzas with mouth-watering toppings.
One afternoon—let me tell you, it was just one of those days--while rushing to fill orders, I was watching the news and what I saw on T.V. touched so many of my emotions, I had to stop putting the spicy Italian tomato sauce on the pizza and focus all of my attention on CNN. All I saw was a city surrounded by water and a baseball diamond that looked like an island fortress defending itself from the fury of nature. How can I worry about my own life, when the people of Cedar Rapids, Iowa have just watched the meaning of their lives slip away one raindrop at a time? Something inside of me told me to go and help. Even though, I didn’t have much, I wanted to go to Cedar Rapids and do something to help those who had lost everything in one of the most devastating floods in Iowa’s history.
That evening as I rode my bike home under a grey, cloudy sky that reflected my brooding mood; I remember on the ride home thinking about my life, and realized that I had had enough of living with my alcoholic brother. David was a mean drunk, not your average bumbling, foolish drunk. When intoxicated, he made his statements with the blunt end of his fist. On one of these days David had saw I used his radio. His way of dealing with it was trying to get me to fight over it. David said “I should own up to what I had done.”
I said “David I’m sorry for using your radio but, it is not something I want to fight over.”
After reflecting on the unpleasantness of my life, I decided to leave Wisconsin and David’s tirades and head for a better place where I could do something that might make a difference, A few days later I bought a two-man tent, took the little money I had, and embarked on my new adventure.
It was July 4th, and the American spirit was high and contagious. I had hitchhiked 200 miles in one day, made it as far as Dubuque, Iowa and was ready for some R & R because my body ached and my emotions were mixed with expectations of what I would find in Cedar Rapids. I left Polak’s Pizza Shop to go after my dreams. I just want to have a life where I can live in a picture-perfect mid-class society, only maybe without the white picket fence. When I told my friends, family, and acquaintances of my plan to go to Cedar Rapids so I could begin a new life, my father told me "Jason I wish you the best of luck. Be careful and stay in touch with me about your progress so I do not worry”. I just want to make my life better than what it has been, and I cannot think of a better way than performing a selfless act. We reap what we sow, and I this journey will be the seed of my future.
I remember sitting in my new tent with a cold beer in hand and feeling a warm breeze on my back. I had pitched my tent on the edge of a quiet and lazy Mississippi river, and was thinking back to many years before and a conversation I had with my mother. “Jason I do not know how you do it. You just go where ever you feel like and make a life for yourself and I am jealous of your sense of freedom and your ability to blow with the wind.”
“I just enjoy the life of a rambling man, Mom.”
My mother had spent the majority of her life being a stay-at-home mom raising a family of 18 (12 adopted). I left the house when I was 17 and traveled the countryside looking for a place to build my life. I had what people called wanderlust—I wanted to see the country for what it was and get a grasp of its people. At that time I enjoyed learning—I still do—and I also enjoy being free of society. I planned on this journey to Cedar Rapids being my final and most fruitful of all.
The night was humid and warm. I thought it was perfect weather to watch the fireworks and celebrate our country’s birth. The air was thick with the smell of vegetation, and every now and then, I caught the aromatic whiff of someone’s masterpiece barbeque. I thought of Katrina and how I had wanted to help the people lessen the burdens they carried as a result of the devastation, and recalling that deep desire I had made me even more excited for this adventure. I needed to get my hands dirty and my body smelly and do what humans do best, sticking together through tragedy. I wanted to do anything I could to help the flood victims of Cedar Rapids regain some sort of sanity following the chaos that had invaded their lives.
When I came into Cedar Rapids my thoughts were silenced as I viewed the carnage of the flood’s destruction. There were police on almost every corner downtown and there was flooded property further, even, than my eyes could see. The city had lost the war against nature’s strength, and now its people needed a fresh start.
The Cedar Rapids hotels were filled to capacity, so, I hit the busses looking for a place to locate myself, and after hours of searching, I finally found a nice Methodist church on Wilson Avenue which had set up a temporary campsite for people flooded out and a few like me who came to help. We were all strangers brought together by tragedy. To this day I enjoy the people of Cedar Rapids, and especially during the time I assisted so many misplaced residents, they and others with whom I worked shoulder-to-shoulder showed me what it means to keep pushing, even when you do not see the light at the end of a seemingly endless tunnel.
The jobs I worked while helping Cedar Rapids recover ranged from gutting the local schools and spraying them with baking soda to jumping into the dark depths of funeral homes. One of the schools was downtown and its normally septic white walls were now covered in a thick brown film and the desks and chairs arranged once in neat and orderly rows were now scattered amidst the garbage and sledge of a distraught building. The place and its unbearable odor reeked of disgust and disease; as a matter of fact, many of the volunteers with whom I worked got sick from the potentially deadly fungal spores floating around invisibly. We wore white thin plastic suits and respirators which made me feel as though I were part of the C.D.C.
Three weeks went by as I contributed my fair share to the Cedar Rapids’ flood clean up. I had been on a new construction job for about two days and had made quick friends with Bud the foreman. Bud is a general contractor foreman who uses Labor Ready to finish deadlines if he needs extra labor. I have been working for him 3 days, now, breaking down a wall. It feels sort of therapeutic. We’ve discussed how much I get paid by labor ready and he shook his head saying, “I don’t want to see this kind of work ethic going to waste”..As I headed into work, he informed me that he had found a job for me with one of his sub-contractors. I have always wanted to go into the construction field, and I remember my father always telling me that men are made to work, and ever since then, nothing feels better to me than using the muscles God gave me to make life better for someone else. There we all were. We had survived the journey, and I felt better and totally satisfied
caprica "White Wolf" Adventurous - 14 years, 1 month, 4 days ago