Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Other side of tragedy is profound beauty

Driving into Portales for the first time during a dusk dust storm in 1982, I almost made a U-turn. This wasn’t the New Mexico I’d imagined.

But I wanted to work at a university, so the next day I went through the eight-hour gauntlet of interviews — including those with Winston Cox, Dallan Sanders and B.B. Lees.

After returning to Dallas, where I was The Salvation Army’s state media representative, I was offered the job.

Recently, I ran across the manuscript of a feature I’d written about an amazing woman in charge of The Salvation Army’s Spanish Community Services in Dallas.

Billie DeArman was 55 in 1982 — a tall, thin, single woman with gray/white hair; a human sun delivering rays of hope to the arid desert of human despair.

What made the optimistic disposition of the adopted mom to many so impressive was she had witnessed numerous catastrophes wreaking devastation on innocent souls.

When natural disasters struck Mexico during her 22 years there, The Salvation Army captain waded through grotesquely mangled bodies searching for survivors.

She said tragedies and grinding poverty in the U.S. and Mexico gave her a keener appreciation of nature’s beauty.

Here is DeArman (1927-2012) in her own words:

“When you see the awesome power nature has to destroy, you have to believe there is something beyond our finite understanding — a power also capable of creating unfathomable beauty.

“Although no one can comprehend why humans have to suffer, we are not fully capable of appreciating the profound beauty of our Universe either.

“I think it behooves us to accept we are largely ignorant about the great mysteries in life — the miracles in the blooming of a flower or the birth of a baby, or the sadness when a young person is stricken with an incurable disease or a loved one dies unexpectedly.

“What is important is we accept responsibility for what we can control. It is these controllable factors which offer life’s greatest challenges, and can bring our deepest and most satisfying experiences.

“It is simply magical the most beautiful thing in life is something we all have an equal capacity to create — love.

“Whether we are rich, poor, brown, black or white, we can create just as much love as anyone in the world.

“Of course, we risk rejection and hurt when we love. Even though we may feel rejection when someone does not reach back, they may be afraid of being hurt, too.

“Deep down, I’m the shyest of the shy. It is only my belief in the good of others that allows me to overcome this shyness and risk rejection. I’m humbled that just for the price of a risk — which is really no cost at all — I get all this love showered on me. It’s the best bargain I’ve ever found.

“Whether we reach others or not, we can take satisfaction in knowing we tried and may have planted a seed of hope that will bloom in their life one day.”

Contact Wendel Sloan at: [email protected]