Why are you so surprised?

When my husband is gone I try to keep up with the weather wherever he is. At the moment that is Kansas, and with the storms and tornadoes in that area: I WORRY! So I turned on the news while I drank my coffee and saw a little story about a man in Arkansas that was helping his fellow neighbors.
Arkansas man rushes to aid tornado victims.
This was an awesome show of humanity. Digging and searching through debris to find anyone who had been buried with no hesitation is the ultimate act of heroism. The news was careful to point out that this man was not an emergency services worker.
Now I’m going to say something that will probably piss off a lot of people. Why the Hell are you so surprised that this man and countless others are doing this?! Where did we get the idea that only those qualified, such as EMTs or police, are the only ones who can help?
Every year hundreds of tornadoes rip through the plains of this country. It is called Tornado Alley for a reason. Men and women from all walks of life dump what they are doing to help each other every single time one of the those horrid disasters happen. Why is everyone so surprised that people are helping each other?
I remember as a kid in eastern Colorado, whenever there was a grass fire every farmer for miles would grab shovels or get in their tractor and go to the fire to help put it out. Or just recently there have been avalanches here in Montana. When one hit Missoula, most of the town descended on the area and started digging for survivors.
Deep down humans will always help each other. There is no question of this. It is in our nature. We are in this together. Too often we get caught up in our quest to improve our own circumstances that we forget the needs of others. Then an emergency happens and all we can think about it saving lives. Material goods stop mattering. I just wish that we could remember this without a disaster to prompt us.

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