Nerves are frayed and people are exhausted in the aftermath of Katrina as we realize the magnitude of the past week's events. When I see the news clips exploited by the media of anguished individuals trapped between their former lives and their uncertain futures, I wince.
Any amount of time spent waiting for relief from such a horrific experience is too long. Any time one is stuck in the middle of what is happening, efforts to help from the outside can't be seen. I believe that anyone trapped on a rooftop or lying exhausted and scared in a putrid shelter would be feeling lost. My heart went out to all of the Superdome victims.
However, in the wake of Katrina, I see tremendous outpouring from caring people to right the situation. We can point fingers and gripe and try to place blame on whoever didn't make decisions fast enough. It is unfortunate, but even with our modern technological machines of prediction and the intelligences of individual people, the fact remains that not since the Storm of 1900 in Galveston, the American Gulf Coast has never experienced a storm of this quality and it was a lot more that any prediction imagined.
I'm not writing this for a stream of debate. I DO NOT want responses to blast Bush or any New Orleans official and their presumed negligence in this situation. The point of this blog is simply to say this:
Appreciate the huge efforts being made now by so many. The National Guard is doing what they can to protect and aide individuals in NO. The American Red Cross has set up more cots and dished out more food in the past 6 days than ever before. Countless man hours are being spent by volunteers to collect donations, serve the evacuees, and channel monetary funds to various relief efforts.
It is heartbreaking to watch the TV coverage. It is heartwarming to see a family reunion of a displaced child or other family member. I'm blown away by the babies that were born during this storm and brought to tears at stories of those lost. Watching a New Orleans police officer cry as he boarded the last helicopter out of the Superdome was enough to bring me to sobbing tears.
Today I am counting my blessings and praying to God for the citizens of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama as they begin the monumental task of starting over. It won't be easy and it will take years to recover. But God is good and they were saved for a reason. As a Christian I have an opportunity to serve God, to minister to the victims of this hurricane and to rise above where I have been.
May God Bless all involved.
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Amen, Mary Lou! This situation should not be used as an opportunity to point fingers. It is an opportunity to put our fingers to work helping our brothers and sisters of America. I am amazed at the outpouring of love and the expressed desire of so many to help in any way possible. I only hope we can maintain that spirit of helping for as long as it takes to get the evacuees back to some degree of normalcy. Surely their sense of what is normal will forever be changed.
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