A sign about hope, Moore, OK. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

"Hope is the only thing stronger than fear," reads a colorful, hand-lettered sign staked in front of a concrete slab where a home once stood. This home was one of hundreds that was destroyed on May 20, 2013, when a massive tornado cut through Moore, Oklahoma, killing 24 people and devastating the town. Before the tornado died down it had plowed up a 17-mile swath that in some places measured a mile in width.

 

To commemorate the date of the storm a year later, people attended church, left flowers and Teddy bears outside the school where nine children were killed, and continued to rebuild their homes and businesses--with a heavy emphasis on storm shelters and a lot of good humor.

"Something good's gotta come out of this," said the mother of one young boy who died. Hope is indeed in evidence in town. But perhaps even more important for surviving, and even thriving, in hard times, is the kind of resilience shown by the people of Moore.