The original “Compassion” column by jess jawin (Jimmy Wisch), published in the Aug. 10, 1978 edition of the Texas Jewish Post.
A father’s reflection after his daughter and fellow campers were rescued during the 1978 Hill Country floods.
Editor’s note:
Our hearts and prayers are with all the families affected by the tragic loss at Camp Mystic and across the flooded Hill Country.
As we grieve with the community and stand with those impacted, we are reminded of another time when floodwaters upended a beloved Jewish summer camp. In 1978, Echo Hill Ranch in Medina was hit by severe flooding that forced a dramatic evacuation. I was among the campers along with many other from the North Texas area. In the edition following our rescue by the National Guard, my father Jimmy Wisch, TJP co-founder and editor wrote the following column under his pen name jess jawin.
His reflection on compassion, resilience, and humanity in the face of disaster remains as moving and relevant today as it was then.
jess jawin
Aug 10, 1978
Compassion
Children starving in Asia…
Human Rights confiscated behind the Iron Curtain…
Somewhere, someplace, a murder committed every minute…
Highway crashes snuff out lives making the local news’ endless obituaries…
Terrorists planting bombs to decimate women and children…
Wars raging in Lebanon, Africa…
All manmade catastrophes which seem to make us insular and oblivious.
Part of the day’s activities.
Then nature stands up and shouts. Nature delivers a mighty blow and people stop and in unison respond.
That’s what it was like when the devastating floods hit Bandera, Medina and Kerr Counties last week [and Albany and Graham more recently].
People helped each other! The American Red Cross sprung into action. Civilian and official agencies were alerted.
Friends called each other. Some rushed to the scene to see if they could help or lend assistance.
We know first hand of the remarkable compassion that one human being has for another in the face of a natural disaster.
Our daughter, Sharon was one of the many campers caught in the Hill Country of Texas when the Guadalupe and Medina Rivers over ran their banks following record breaking rains.
The area is almost “headquarters” for summer camping activity in Texas.
Located in the beautiful “Hill Country” often mentioned by the late President Lyndon Johnson, even his beloved Perdenales River threatened his gravesite on the Johnson Ranch at Johnson City.
Sharon told us of the harrowing times: “The water came up to our chests. We held hands when we walked outside. Suddenly two of the cabins floated by.”
Sharon was lucky enough to be on the high ground at Echo Hill Ranch. Still the camp was not untouched as the high streams turned into vicious torrents swiftly seeking the path of gravity.
The children and staff helped each other. The camp was cut-off from phone service and electricity. “Luckily she was at Miss Frieda’s side. But there was a kind of eerie serenity,” said Sharon.
Unfortunately “Uncle Tom” Friedman was in Kerrville on an errand for the camp. His car couldn’t make it through the high water. He waited until the waters receded before he could return.
Calls into the area were stopped with “all circuits are busy” recordings. And in some instances when telephone service operators were kind and helpful, they tried to get calls through.
We were able to reach the camp by Wednesday.
Calling disaster officials, county sheriffs, the Army Corps of Engineers and anyone who would listen was our concern — as it was with other parents — knowing the threat of fact and the hope that the relay of “innocence” was working, we alerted all places that could be relayed into anxieties.
If Metroplex television stations did not even know about the precious loss of life in the area we had to alert their news department to get their staff and their network busy.
One parent arranged for a helicopter to fly into the camp to make certain that the children were safe and in no immediate danger even though the river was pulling up trees and wreaking havoc. The report was spread around to anxious parents.
Later Thursday, the U.S. Army came to the rescue aided by the National Guard. They pushed into the area with water motor high and pulled the children from their perches in the cabins that were untouched.
On Friday we all engulfed our children with hugs and kisses after their bus pulled into Temple Emanu-El’s parking lot.
But as we looked at the serenity surrounding Emanu-El’s site and the quietude of the cemetery which is nearby, we wondered again about man’s greatest tribute to his own nature: his compassion to help his fellowman in the face of natural disaster.
It also made us continuously think of the great manmade disasters that permeate this planet Earth.
And we wondered why should it be?
If man could be so compassionate when uncontrollable nature destroys, then why can’t he use his compassion to build a better life for those who are constantly being destroyed through the wiles and guiles of humans.
It could happen.
It just takes: Compassion.