When we see disasters like the horrific fires in Maui we tend to see little hope for the people who have had their homes and livelihoods destroyed.
However, history tells us there is always hope, even in the ashes.
77 years ago today an advertisement appeared in local newspapers around the country. The call went out for “seagoing cowboys.”
Help wanted. Two thousand men ages 16- 60 for a 4 to 6 week trip on board UNRRA ships carrying livestock to Europe to replace the animals that had been killed by the war. Farmers across Europe had lost their sheep, cows, and hogs to the falling bombs.
The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration organized the donation of livestock from American and Canadian farmers and placed the animals on ships to send to European countries.
Hundreds of men answered the call. Caring for the animals on the ships in all kinds of weather. Lending their hand to provide hope to the hopeless after parts of Europe had been leveled by nearly nonstop bombing.
The animals provided a means for people to pull themselves up out of the ashes and gave them the fortitude to start rebuilding.
This is happening now in Maui. It may not make the front pages, but there are those who are taking steps and putting forth to bring them hope today just as hope rose from the ashes 77 years ago.
I’m Dan Kenney, and this is my perspective.
