2 years since Katrina

I realize it is likely that many will want to crucify me for writing this, but given it is the anniversary of Katrina’s landfall, I can’t continue to ignore the feelings I had a little less than two years ago.

First I have to say I’m an inlander. I don’t live near an ocean or a sea, but I do understand the attraction these locations have for many people. I’ll not argue whether living near the water is the right choice. Actually, I would appreciate living near the water if I had the chance and if I could afford it. So this is a moot point to me.

If you’ll remember two years ago today, we all were being told about how Katrina was lashing New Orleans and the Southern coast of Mississippi. It was a tremendous storm, one that we had been warned about for days prior to the landfall of the hurricane. Even if a New Orlinean had no access to modern media (TV, radio and the internet), the same person would have been hard pressed to avoid hearing about the impending hurricane from those they interacted with in the days leading up to Katrina’s arrival. To say that nearly everyone in New Orleans knew it was coming is a gross understatement. One would have had to isolate themselves for a week before Katrina’s landfall to not have known a hurricane was on its way. It was nearly impossible to not know.

The next item we should think about is whether folks living in New Orleans knew the city was built below sea level? . . . Right on the sea, mind you. Again we have a piece of information that nearly every New Orlinean probably knew. I don’t even live near New Orleans and I knew the city was below sea level! I know that they bury their dead above ground to keep them from floating back up to the top of the soil. Sure some living there might not know this, but again I suspect that number is very, very small. Likewise I’m sure these same folks knew that the Corps of Engineers was unsure of the levees when considering a storm of this size. The media said as much for days leading up to the storm. You would have had to be under a rock to not know the levees were only a “possible” defense against the flooding a hurricane might cause. And I’m sure this is more than doubly true if you lived in one of the lowest areas of the city, like the lower 9th ward.

Push the clock forward a tick and now we all are experiencing dozens if not hundreds of people screaming for help after the storm and after the city was flooded. People with sheets on their roofs and folks stuck at the Superdome all were clamoring for help. No doubt, I felt for these folks. It was a bad situation. But in no way could you convince me that this situation was not avoidable for the vast majority of the people wailing on my TV.

Now I’m sure many of you are sitting there, reading this, with the look of incredulity on your face. “How can you say that about these poor, stranded people?” you say. “They didn’t have food or clean water.” you say. I can’t argue that these people were stranded in a very bad situation. But how many of the stranded people could have WALKED out of New Orleans in the two days leading up to the storm? 90%? 98%? How many of these folks could have afforded to grab a bag of junk food at a quick mart prior to the storm? Twinkies and chips are not extravagant expenditures and neither is a case of bottled water.

“I have pets.” some of those interviewed said. Ok. So do I. Does anyone believe that if you stuck a leash on your dog that the same dog wouldn’t walk out of the city with you? What does it matter that they wouldn’t allow dogs or cats on the busses? Walk the darn animals out of the city! I would walk if I had no other means of transport! I would grab a bag from my house and fill it with food and water. I would carry this too. Yes it would be annoying and stressful and yes I would probably get exhausted many, many times. But I would be alive and capable of finding those things that I’m lacking. I would be capable of finding a church on the way that might give me water or food and likely the same for my pets. I would eventually be able to find an office or an agency that could get me back to a place to sleep and an address to deliver mail to. Nearly all of the people I saw on TV being interviewed were capable of walking their way from the city. For these folks, I feel and I felt very little pity for them.

Believe me, I’m not totally hard-hearted or callous in my beliefs. I know there were those that were infirmed, institutionalized, non-ambulatory, mentally off or caring for someone that is one of these. For these people I feel tons of pity and I certainly wish we could have done something for them the moment they were in peril. What happened to these people was a tragedy. It isn’t like we didn’t know that New Orleans was below sea level. It isn’t like a plan couldn’t have been created before Katrina’s landfall to have places to shuttle infirmed and needy folks to. We have known about this issue for decades and we as a people did very little about it. Shame on us as a country for this and shame on all past members of the New Orleans government for not taking hold of this issue before!

Another issue we experienced from this disaster is the issue of looting. I can understand someone needing food and purified water from a grocery store in the situation we saw on TV. I can even understand people feeling like they need a gun to defend themselves when a disaster occurs. But what I can’t understand is someone grabbing for a big screen TV or other luxury items. In these cases, I don’t have any issue with someone shooting the person taking these items. Why you ask? Why shouldn’t these folks be allowed to strive for something nice out of a bad situation? Well, first of all they didn’t EARN the right to own the item they are STEALING! Yes it is stealing. Second, because they are stealing the item, it means that some insurance company will have to pay for the inventory replacement for the shop owner. This translates to future increases in the cost of insurance, which eventually gets to the folks that are working hard to try to maintain what they have already worked hard to get. Frankly, they didn’t work for it and they didn’t negotiate for the item at a good price, so I believe they have no reason to expect that they deserve the item they are stealing. You’re stealing. You’re in complete disregard for the law. You deserve to be shot or otherwise prevented from taking that which is not yours.

There are many that lost their houses in the flooding and there are many that are crying to the government to help them rebuild. To me this seems like a real waste of federal funds. We have experienced a loss of these homes once, why should we rebuild a home that will be in peril once again? Did you not have any insurance on your home? Why is your not having insurance my problem? Can you not find another place to live in the United States? Yes, I know folks want to live where they did, but there are times when a disaster should be the signal that living there isn’t the right thing to do. This is one of them. Why can these folks not see this as an opportunity to move to another area of the country? Why can we not leave some of these areas as a testament to the foolishness of our folly in building in places we shouldn’t have built? Make them a monument to ignorance and total disregard for logic. Leave them as a lesson for our children, so they might not repeat the same stupid thing.

I don’t know why our government is providing such heinous amounts of money for folks that lived irresponsibly. Not only are many of these folks clamoring for federal dollars, but fund after fund has been set up to help in a voluntary manner? What? You want me to help someone who did something stupid and who wants to do the same stupid thing again? How much you say? Hah! It will take billions to rebuild New Orleans, but I don’t think it should be the billions from our pockets or from the pockets of the federal government (which is just a glorified extension of our pockets anyway). Let the billions come from the pockets of those that steadfastly declare that New Orleans must go on even though the cost benefit analysis for doing so is completely out of whack! I’m not up for financing someone else’s stupidity or lack of judgment. Don’t use the tax dollars I have given to the government to empower the exact same behavior either! Don’t ask me to cry for all of the folks that lost their homes in the disaster. Yes I cry for a small group of them, but the rest can fend for themselves.

I was taught long ago to not expect others to take care of me when I became an adult. I have insurance on my home. I have insurance on my life and my car and in case I’m disabled. All of these cost me a good bit of money too. I work hard to continue to secure a comfortable future for me and my loved ones. I do not and I will not expect the government to bail me out of a disaster should one occur, unless the disaster is a direct result of governmental action. Notice I did not say “governmental inaction?” Our government is not an insurance company. And until the day arrives that I am incapable of being ambulatory or in full control of my own facilities, I will not expect the aid of someone else to avoid disastrous events. I’m an adult and I know I have to take care of myself. Please stop asking me to support stupidity and lethargy. I won’t do it and I don’t think anyone else should either!

Copyright JGR 2007, All rights reserved.