Again...?About three years ago, the country watched as Hurricane Katrina devastated large parts of Mississippi and Louisiana.
We witnessed as our Federal Government failed to adequately respond to unforeseen human reactions to a natural disaster. Much of the attention was focused on the 50,000 or so individuals trapped by circumstances (or poor choices) in New Orleans. There were millions more people effected by both Katrina and Rita.
Americans responded with donations of cash, supplies and effort. Much of the rebuilding has yet to be done. Habitat For Humanity has projects going to this day.
I have little compassion for many of the "victims" of Hurricane Katrina. Is that cold? Maybe.
About one month after many of the evacuees had settled into other communities (Beaumont, Texas being one of the largest settlements), Hurricane Rita struck South East Texas. FEMA, Texas, and our local government had learned from the Katrina experience and responded proactively.
A mandatory evacuation was issued three days before the storm was predicted to make landfall. According to local sources, 95% of the area's population (in addition to the Katrina refugees) complied with the order.
I evacuated to a small suburb of Dallas and watched coverage on the Weather Channel trying to glean an image of my home. I broke the county wide curfew and sneaked back into town the day following the storm. Trees were strewn across blocked roads, power lines swung from toppled poles like moss from trees. Roofs were in neighbor's driveways and water was everywhere.
When I returned to my house (yes it was still there) I had no lights, gas or running water. We used a neighbor's pool to wash the sweat and grime from ourselves after each days work of clearing trees and debris from our street. We had our block cleaned (lawns mowed, roofing shingles stacked neatly in a corner of each neighbor's driveway and streets swept) in only three days following the storm.
It was hot.
The mosquitoes were everywhere.
Each neighbor who either stayed or came back early helped to reclaim our everyday lives.
$2000.00? What $2000.00? Those monies were only given to people who evacuated and remained evacuated. If someone came back too early and tried to meet the system half-way, they were denied FEMA checks, Red Cross assistance, gas cards, Wal Mart cards, free hotel rooms and a litany of other handouts.
It was an over-reaction to Katrina.
FEMA, The Mormon Church, The Baptist Church and other organizations provided food, diapers, those ubiquitous blue tarps, ice and water to anyone who could get to the distribution centers (not usually more than one half mile from one to the next).
I was bitter.
I had come back early to ensure that my tenants had a home in which to return, to help others make needed repairs, to deliver food and supplies to those without transportation and to just get started in getting back to life. In doing so, I denied myself the thousands of dollars in aid given to others who decided to rely upon the system.
I called home to a group of friends in California. After listening to me whine for about seven minutes, I was interrupted by the question, "What the f*** does all of that have to do with you?". I was shocked ... back into reality.
I was able to do, and did.
(It wasn't that cold of a call. They are my friends after all. I was later asked if I needed to come home or if I needed any money. I said (humbly) "No... not anymore.")
I told people here of my conversation with my friends from home. To a person, they each told me that whom ever would give me the response that my friends gave me weren't my real friends. Actually my real friends knew to put me in my place.
But, I was still bitter.
I was so mad that I packed my tools and found people making repairs and helped them out for free. Single handed, I tore down and stacked TONS of debris of a corner store in the hood. (It was the only source of banking and groceries in that neighborhood. Many people who lived in the area didn't have transportation. The sooner the store was open, the sooner the people could shop for needed items.) I stretched endless rolls of blue tarp onto roofless homes. I delivered supplies to rural and urban areas that weren't readily served by organizations. I worked until I had worked my bitterness away.
It took about six months.
I worked and worked to help people without pay.
Many people blame the Government for mishandling the situation with Katrina. Equal blame should be placed on a community that is so dependent upon the Government that it couldn't think for itself to save itself.
Have we learned anything in the last three years since Katrina?
I hope so.
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