Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of Hurrican Katrina. On August 29, 2005, the storm ravaged the grand old city of New Orleans. I was just reading an article about the storm by New York Times reporter Sheila Bosworth, and her ending left me feeling pretty empty:In "The Sun Also Rises," Mike Campbell explains how he went bankrupt: "Two ways. Gradually, and then suddenly." That's one answer to the question of how New Orleans collapsed. There are those who say New Orleans must have seen Hurricane Katrina and its deadly aftermath coming, must have been expecting the worst, given the conditions - geological, structural, meteorological, political - that long preceded the storm.
But expecting it and being ready for it are two different things. You're never ready to give up the people and the places you've loved.
The best you can do is to go on expecting the sad suddenness of the goodbye.
That's a really sad thought. It's one thing to lose your material items; it's another to lose your sense of the past. I look forward to one day taking my kids back to where I grew up, and be able to point things out to them, That's where Dad played baseball...That's Gram & Pop's old house...Even those who grew up in abject poverty have fond memories of their childhood. My Mom grew up poor, yet visits Bellows Falls, VT every year - it was her home. It's a part of us, it helps define who we are. When it's gone, it's devastating.
Katrina is a haunting reminder that we really can't afford to take things for granted. Life is far too short. I just made a donation to the Bush-Clinton Katrina fund - a small price to pay, and it's going to someone who has suffered a great loss. I'd encourage you to do the same.
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