Can't Go Back Now Kyle Crockett

Three weeks ago my mother, as I'm sure is the case for many mothers, sat alone in her bathroom to hear thirty seconds of devastation bulldoze our city. An !" tornado hit my beloved hometown of #attiesburg, $ississi%%i on !ebruary &'. I had no conce%t of an !" tornado, but I do now. An !" tornado charts a dis%arate, %sychotic route. It van(uishes one street and s%ares the ne)t. It leaves a town in com%lete disarray. An !" leaves a community shocked, beaten, and homeless. *ut it forgets that it leaves a community. +etting back to my mother, she sent me a message that tornado warnings were in effect and she was locked in her bathroom. This has been the story at least &, other times in my life, so I went to work unworried. $oments later, I had received multi%le messages s%elling out the severity of the #attiesburg afternoon. -ur house was safe, but only by a block or two. -ther %arts of #attiesburg were not so lucky. After half an hour, the cam%us of ./$ had suffered severe blows to its $usic de%artment, its %roud rose garden, and many other beloved cam%us buildings. !urthermore, houses were truly destroyed. After Katrina, the entire town had damage, but after the !", many %arts of the town were wi%ed away com%letely. It %icked the wrong town, though. The %eo%le of #attiesburg are a rare breed. 0hile many sat in their bathrooms and watched their lives change in a matter of seconds, everyone left their homes and %ut on some gloves to move forward and aid those in need. This was not easy as a bleak, rainy, defeated atmos%here %lagued #attiesburg in the days following. 1o matter, though, the #attiesburgians were out in waves2 workers came from all over, and locals showed their genuine love for this %lace, a love which we're all convinced e)ists nowhere else. ./$ organized a clean3u% cam%aign, and res%onse numbered in the thousands, as did donations. The most difficult as%ect of all this was the destruction of #attiesburg sta%les. Age3old university buildings, longstanding southern homes, neighborhoods, and local business were eerily absent in the tornado's wake. Cornerstones of #attiesburg were sim%ly stones. -ne such %lace, 4illie's /ubs 5 $ore, stung the most. $y family has fre(uented this local restaurant on /unday for 6' years or more. Attacking this haven of football, food, friends, and family, the !" did its best to bury our memories in the rubble. .nfortunately for the tornado, though, it only evoked my best memories of that %lace, much like it evoked all of our best memories of #attiesburg. The 0ee%ies have %rovided me with many a comforting tune in the %ast five years, not the least of which is 7Can't +o *ack 1ow.8 As I've considered my hometown's devastation, my mind continually wanders to this sim%le song of resilience, %ersistence, and o%timism which has offered me its hel%ing hand on so many occasions. 0e are a town stee%ed in tradition, friendshi%, and work, and the tornado sought to

challenge those community %illars. #owever, it only strengthened them, as all my romantic assum%tions about my home and my %eo%le were confirmed in the !"'s aftermath. An a%t reflection of the #attiesburg %syche, one student said of the e)%erience, 7it's been so amazing, so humbling, so worth everything.8 9egardless of circumstance, #attiesburg's %eo%le forget the tragedy and instead see the terrific nature of %eo%le, because that nature is worth everything. 0e've been tarred and feathered by mother nature, but we %ress on. 0e strive, we seek, we find, and we do not yield. 0e can't go back now.