Alanis Morisette's "Hand In My Pocket" was playing on the radio as I went to pick up Hannah from work tonight and that particular line stuck a chord in me as my thoughts went from the astronomical gas prices to the disastrous effects of nature's wrath that are behind them.
I'm scared. Whole cities have been swallowed up in the depths of the sea--it's as if I'm reading the Book of Mormon, only it's the headlines on MSNBC. But even more that being scared, I'm sad:
I mourn the deaths the occurred during the storm itself.
I mourn those who lost their lives in the subsequent storm surges and floodwaters.
I mourn for the survivors who are stranded, still awaiting rescue.
I mourn the lost possessions, the damaged livelihoods, the tarnished memories.
I mourn the country whose thirst for the terrible has accustomed the media to highlighting tales of terror instead of stories of hope.
But most of all, I mourn those who have allowed their better selves to be overwhelmed by the situation. Those who have let hate and fear wash away their humanity as Katrina washed away their homes. Those whose only response to tragedy is to rape, pillage, and plunder until patients have to be moved to the upper floors of the hospitals because looters have made the lower floors unsafe. Until police have to halt rescue efforts because they are being fired upon. Until store owners must guard their doors at gunpoint in order to stop the robbery of their goods. Until the dead are left lying in the streets as officials try to restore order among the living. And until people who should unite in their time of tragedy instead live in fear of their own.
So in your thoughts pray, and in your prayers plead--that sanity be returned, peace be restored, spirits rejuvenated, and hope revived.
Then know that "what it all comes down to, is that everything is gonna be fine, fine, fine."
3 comments:
That's my best friend. I love you Megz. Thanks. I needed.
Ditto. To you and to Adriane.
I just learned that the North Dakota National Guard and the Air Guard of ND were called out to go aid in the relief efforts of the South. They are bringing a lot of equipment, food, water purification system (it can turn 12,000+ gallons of flood water per day per machine into drinkable water-- it is the same thing that we used in 1997 when we flooded)and adequate supplies to last for 15 days for themselves.
FEMA has also requested for 1,000 two-man teams of experienced firefighters to go help. Fargo is sending a team, Grand Forks is sending a team, Moorehead is working on a team, and Bismarck is sending a team.
The teams of firefighters will be doing everything from recovering bodies to getting shelters ready to move people from the Superdome.
And the best thing is that ND is just one of multiple states responding to the call for help.
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