When the Levee Breaks

Where does one begin? It is impossible to describe the devastation that is seen in the Gulf area. The streets of New Orleans where I once walked and enjoyed a coffee and binet at an outdoor cafe is most likely under water. The convention center where I spent the better part of five days at my first Kiwanis International convention is now a refugee camp with death and decay permeating the facility where once there was life and energy. A dead elderly woman in her wheelchair is pushed against a wall out of the way. Her body covered with a blanket. The Riverwalk, once a prime jewel in the heart of New Orleans, where a barge once took out a portion of the center section and was rebuilt, is now the site of bodies and destruction. Mother Nature in all of its infinite glory has the ability to destroy much more than man can dream when she is at full force, or even half force. The massive loss of land, buildings, and lives is hard to comprehend. Then I think about the tsunami and the fact that the loss of lives there may be 100 times greater than in our own country. Water, the great equalizer, breaks through granite over thousands or millions of years to form something as spectacular as the Grand Canyon or in the matter of hours or days can destroy what man has taken hundreds of years to build.

When do we learn the lessons of nature? When do we learn that reversing rivers for our own benefit or building cities below sea level or damming waters that have such force will not withstand the intensity of nature at its greatest force? Those that had no way of escaping, with no where to go, with no transportation were left behind. The elderly, the poor, the uninformed, the disabled, the infirmed were all left helpless. And we make media stars out of the well-heeled family that paid $3700 to take a limousine from New Orleans to the Chicago area. Let's put them on the news and the morning shows while thousands of people are trapped in a watery prison. Where are the priorities in the media sometimes? Just because someone has money doesn't make their story any more newsworthy.

And how did it happen that people have sunk so low in morality that they break into stores to loot televisions, shoes, and designer clothing, as well as guns and ammunition when they could have been putting this evil energy into helping those that really needed help? Rapes, looting, snipers, and utter lawlessness in the streets. What kind of message are we sending to the world about how we treat our citizens? How we treat one another? There is a feeling of helplessness, desperation, and a fading of hope among those that we cannot comprehend what they are experiencing, what they are feeling. It is challenging to go on with our daily lives without feeling empathy for those who have no bathroom facilities, when we can freely enjoy a shower or drinkning water and knowing that those who are stranded have none of these.

We cannot do everything, but we can do something. We are a giving nation. One that has helped millions around the world. We have helped those around our own country most recently in Florida. There are organizations that have the ability to help. Consider a donation to The Red Cross or dial 1-800-HELP-NOW or the Salvation Army.

Above all else, we can pray for the survivors, the victims, and our Nation. Pray for the homeless, those that are out of work and most likely will be for the foreseeable future. Pray for the babies and those who cannot find their loved ones. Pray that we learn and that those who are volunteering to help are kept safe. Godspeed.