Two weeks after Hurricane Ike, and we still see lots of problems in Houston, both short term and long term. We still have friends without power, which is hard to believe. There are still traffic lights outs. In almost every neighborhood you can see piles of debris, ranging from just tree branches where there was no flooding, up to sheetrock and carpeting where the water rose too high. One of our sales reps lost her entire house down at the beach, nothing left but pilings, and it was her home, not just a vacation getaway.

Our big hearted city will feel the effects of this for months to come. Most of the people we know here in Houston have insurance and resources to get their lives back to normal. What scares me is the potential downward spiral an event like this can cause for the working poor, those families that live week to week, many on hourly wages. If you can’t get to work, you can’t get paid, you can’t buy food, you can’t pay the rent, you can’t afford gas, you lose your job, and the nightmare just keeps getting worse. I’m a big believer in community services that help people like this, who are working hard to get ahead, and just need a hand to get back on track.

I am grateful every day to live the life I live, and have the family and friends I have. After a little bit of inconvenience and expense, we are back to normal. Now is a good time to think about if what we give is equal to what we have been given. I always think I must have been very very good in a previous lifetime! So I’m going to dig a little deeper to see what else I can do to give more. It's the right thing to do, plus I want to keep my good karma going!