I have spent hours today in front of the television, watching the footage of the damage left in Hurricane Katrina’s wake. The magnitude of the disaster is almost too much to comprehend…an entire American city devastated and soon to be completely abandoned. It’s astonishing. I have a few friends in New Orleans…and luckily, they got out before the storm hit, but their homes and possessions are probably gone, submerged under twenty feet of water. 
Being a writer, you can’t help but think of all the amazing stories coming from this disaster — heart-breaking and horrifying, heartwarming and life-affirming — many of them playing out right in front of us on the TV screen.
In a sad way, it’s also one of those great, unifying moments for our nation. When something like this happens, we aren’t New Yorkers or Californians, Democrats or Republicans… we are all Americans. The tragedy draws us closer together as a nation. Yes, it happened to the Gulf Coast but we all feel the horror and the sadness. We all know someone who is personally affected by this. My heart goes out to all the victims and their loved ones. I can’t imagine what it must feel like.
And that’s the other thing this tragedy brings home. It could happen here. No, it will happen here.
I live in Los Angeles, where a cataclysmic earthquake isn’t a possibility, it’s a certainty…one we all choose to ignore (or to pretend won’t happen in our lifetime). Likewise, everybody knew that New Orleans was built in a bowl below sea level, that massive flooding was inevitable, that everyone living there was on borrowed time. What happened in the Gulf Coast this week is a horrifying reminder of what we here will face some day.
Read this:
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/t-p/katrina.ssf?/hurricane/katrina/stories/html/DISASTERPLAN31.html
It could have been avoided. It should have been. State and federal officials have known for years that this was going to happen.
Actually, that link is already part of my post!
http://www.truthlaidbear.com/katrinarelief.php
“Truth Laid Bear” invites bloggers to participate in today’s Blogging Awareness for Katrina Relief project. Register your blog site (link above) and choose a charity to recommend to your readers. The project was mentioned on MSNBC news last night.
Republishing? Me thinks you have your job on the brain. 🙂
Seriously, I agree. Any time this happens, it’s encouraging to see people forget differences and focus on what really matters, helping people who have been devistated by what has happened.
Actually, that link is already part of my post!
Whoops. My mistake.
We are destined for a huge earthquake in Seattle too. Although we did have quite a stretch of bad luck here with the WTO debacle to the Nisqually earthquake.
Yes, I can well see this happening over here and hopefully we can get over this tax cutting nonsense, because if anyone is on the highway 99 overpass when the big one hits they are history.
Yikes, Mark, you’re right. I’ve corrected the error. Thanks for catching it.
Unfortunately someone at he top didn’t focus all that well on “helping.” Perhaps we sould just turn a blind eye to that likekind? Not.