Resilience

Resilience(n): an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

Last night our nation witnessed something few of us who follow the NFL would have thought possible. The New Orleans Saints, after more than forty years of utter futility, won the Super Bowl. Now, I'm not disrespecting the Saints or it's fans, just stating the facts. Ever since it's inception in 1966, this team had been that laughing stock of the NFL, with Tom Dempsey's field goal being the signature "win" of the franchise. Things go so bad that fans would come to games with bags over their heads calling themselves the "Aint's".

All of that disappeared last night because in one game all the futility and ineptness were swept away forever.

This victory should be a wake up call for our nation. Four and a half years ago, the city of New Orleans was hit with one of the worst hurricanes ever. People sleeping in the streets and the Superdome. A city underwater, wondering if it would ever come back. A people turned desperate had become demoralized by their misfortune. A franchise, wondering where games would be held, playing almost anywhere not knowing if this was their last game. For a while, the Saints had become gypsies, drifting from town to city, trying to hold on.

The people however were resilient in their resolve to rebuild and get this tragedy righted. All is still not perfect, but it will be, with The Big Easy coming back stronger than ever. Te Saints asked for no quarter and gave none. They dealt the cards given to them the best they could, stumbling and fumbling along the way, but they got there, never losing sight on the prize.

Last night was a testament to a people, a citizenry who never, ever gave up. The rest of our nation should take the lessons learned and heed their call. We can get through our seemingly endless number of problems if we stick together and work for the common good. Our goal should be like those people on Bourbon Street. These people never wanted to die or fade away, they wanted to live, live to see this victory last night.

I am proud of them,
I am a Saint!!