Smoky Mt. folk

Such beauty in the Great Smoky Mountains area of Tennessee, and such loss from last month's wildfire. The image shows fiery destruction in contrast to the area's iconic beauty (click on it to enlarge).

photo: https://stream.org

This author is from the area. He says resilience and faith are common here, that it comes out in a generous hospitality to neighbors and strangers. "Many of the community leaders stayed out in front to help others even while their own homes and businesses burned. The mayor of Gatlinburg was one of those people."

Mayor Werner: "We lost our home, we lost our business  . . But our family’s safe, everybody’s healthy, we all love each other. … The people of this area, it’s like a family … There’s people that bend over backward. . You know, we’re going to be OK. . We’ve had so many people offer places where we can live. But I’m just thankful that we’re here to be able to try to help everybody; that’s our goal.”