by Roy Weavers


When a community is threatened by the type of potential disaster that Cyclone Yasi posed to Port Douglas, Mossman and surrounding districts last week, it’s amazing how so many residents discard their natural wariness and just open their homes to anyone in more distress than themselves.

This is without doubt a demonstration of why the human race has and will survive whatever nature or more likely itself can throw at it.

Dozens of stories have poured into The Newsport offices relating tales of generosity of spirit where large gatherings of worried people living near the coast have been welcomed into the homes of residents in more secure areas. 

What makes this all the more remarkable is that in many cases they were complete strangers.  If ever there was a confirmation of the truth of the old expression, “There are no such things as strangers, just friends you haven’t met yet!” this is it!

We heard of several of these refuges out in the Shannonvale Valley where several groups of residents with nowhere to go gathered together to ride out the storm together. 

Generous house owners in the area ended up in some cases with 30 or so pre-cyclone refugees, many who had been brought along by vaguely known acquaintances but they were living in the storm surge evacuation areas and had no where to run when told to leave. 

Normally, in this day and age, there is no way you would consider letting a complete stranger into your house.  Society indoctrinates us with so many fears about people we don’t know that naturally we all assume will murder us in our beds or at the very least kidnap our children and sell them into slavery!

But when faced with the threat of the biggest natural disaster to ever face the Queensland coast, we hold out our arms and welcome whoever needs refuge from the storm.

And thank God we do because, in reality, what separates us from every other living thing in this world is our ability to allow others into our territory without feeling threatened.

And odd as it may seem these strangers, who post Cyclone Yasi are now good friends, turned out to be really nice people who kept us amused with rich and entertaining stories and life experiences shared, while the category 3 winds whipped round our heads and scared the bejesus out of us!  And not a kidnapper or murderer amongst them! 

Human compassion is one of our most endearing traits and we should fear above all else losing that ability to care for others.  It is what saw our mothers and fathers through their World Wars as well as they and recent generations through many other natural disasters. 

Just look at the outflow of selfless humanitarianism in the recent Brisbane floods. It is at these times, that you get a glimpse of the real human being and not the selfish, “if you don’t see things my way, then I’ll kill you” attitude that is prevalent in most of the world today. 

Wherever there is a disaster the human race pulls together, regardless of race, religion or geography so why can’t it be like that all the time?  Psychologists have probably got the answer but they keep it a secret ‘cos if they gave us the answer they’d be out of a job wouldn’t they?

In any case, Cyclone Yasi has brought this community closer together because of the selfless attitudes of many unsung heroes who threw open their doors and their arms and kept all of us safe in their care to fight the good fight for another day. 

Let’s see if we can honour them by making the fight to be better human beings and act like they do, only ALL the time.

Personal thanks to Nathan Verri who was one of these hospitable but unsung heroes who must have wondered where the army of stragglers who descended on his farm had come from.  But if you could find a piece of floor to sleep on, then it was yours with no questions asked. 

Even though we were fortunate to ‘dodge the bullet’ of the full impact of Cyclone Yasi, the party we enjoyed together will live on in my memory for a long time.
 
It only remains now for all of us to send our sympathies to our fellow Queenslanders who weren’t as fortunate as we were and did have to endure the awesome destructive power of Cyclone Yasi and assure them that whatever needs to be done to help them back on their feet, we’ll be right there with them to make it happen as fast as possible. ‘Cos that’s what human beings are all about!