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Reflections on Disaster
Katrina. Such a pretty name to be forever marred by the disaster on America's Gulf Coast.I've followed the Katrina / Rita / Wilma saga from the beginning. I've spent hundreds of hours tracking the numbers for the Americans Aiding Americans site, where I try to document the generosity of Americans, American businesses and groups with their donations for Katrina relief. I realize I slight those folks injured by Hurricanes Rita and Wilma but my simple view is that they are all victims of the Gulf Coast disaster called Katrina. This makes the 149th entry in the Katrina Relief category on this blog. Some are short, others long. Many are just posts with news that you might not have seen. Some are my writings, trying to make some sense of the loss that our nation has suffered. Folks complain that the war in Iraq isn't a real war because the President hasn't asked us to sacrifice. The devastation in the Gulf hasn't touched many of us in just that same manner, and it's far closer to home. Americans, your friends, families, neighbors, are homeless tonight and have been so for months. Have we sacrificed, or is this just a pretend catastrophe? One of my Katrina posts today came closest to home for me, the wannabe photographer. HP is restoring photos that were damaged in the hurricanes. The woman whose story I featured had lost everything but a handful of old pictures. HP was able to give those memories, that reality, back to her. About 30 students from St. John Fisher College, my alma mater and PG's as well, will be going south to help after school lets out in May. If you scan the news on Google, this is very common. Many students spent their spring break down there. Others will spend their summer. There's more than enough work for these young people, more than enough. The billions of dollars that have gone and will go to the region have yet to make an impact. It will be years, decades, before economic and social health returns to coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Communities are gone, wiped away as if they never existed. Jobs, businesses, tax bases, infrastructure, all gone or damaged severely. The region will never be the same, and for many that is the greatest loss. This is an event that will reshape the United States. Many of the people forced to leave their homes will not return. Thousands of businesses will never reopen. Communities will be rebuilt, with a different design, different structures, different politics. The blame game will be played out, because that's all we seem to be able to do lately. The people who should lead will bicker and pout and obstruct and shame themselves and us by their petty and thoughtless behaviors. Chances will be squandered, money will be wasted, and life for the people of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida will never be the same. The people are the Katrina generation, forever condemned by the forces of nature and politics to a life of what might have been. I will continue to write about this epic event in American history. Whether anyone believes me or not, this is as historically significant as few events in our history have been. Part of America in a few hours has been reduced to a poverty of place and hope and life unlike any we've seen since the Great Depression or the end of the Civil War. These stories are about Americans. Proud, patriotic Americans just like you and me. We cannot forget them. We cannot abandon them. We must demand the best from all our leaders, the politicians, the community leaders. When people are homeless, give them homes. When people are jobless, give them jobs. Above all, give them hope. I'm not calling for massive government. I'm calling for the vision in our leaders to lead, to open the way for those who can help, to make the paths smooth. Americans can rebuild if our leaders will let us. Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2006-04-07 |
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