I have a writing about Hurricane Katrina, the Coast, my friends and my husband and me. It is entitled "In the Eighth Month." Some of you have read it. It is posted on two websites and one blog. I am responsibility for these for two of my groups. Click links.
- Our Lady of the Pearl - In the Eighth Month
- Concordia Ministries, Inc. - Hurricane Katrina
- Our Lady's Little Scribe - In the Eighth Month
I'm also responsible for two other blogs:
In a nutshell, a good part of my life is represented on these sites. Needless to say, they have suffered from neglect the last 2 1/2 weeks
(This week I started reading The Great Deluge, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Douglas Brinkley. Very good.)
3 comments:
Reading your story about how people were affected by Katrina was an eye-opener. When you made it so personal, it seemed more real to those of us who got much lesser damage. I see how it was a great stresser for you all and a horrible tragedy for many. We're about to rent a bay house in Bay St. Louis for a week, and the realtor said the owner's husband was killed there during Katrina.
I lived in New Orleans at the time of Katrina, having moved there in 1960. We lost our home, one car and everything in the house except the china and crystal.
I observed first hand the terrible mental stress that people endured because they were unwilling to accept what happened. We have very little control over so many things that happen in life. We have total control over how we respond/react to things - at least in the long run. While we might all react with negative emotions immediately, by coming to terms with what happens and accepting it, we can maintain our sense of emotional balance. The sooner after any tragic loss we come to accept it, the sooner we regain our emotional stability.
I know many people who are still trying to hold on to the "what if ______". And they are suffering. We must let go of the past and live in the present.
John, I had concluded earlier that you probably lived in New Orleans during Katrina. I’m sorry for what you and your family went through and for your losses, particularly those things which cannot be replaced. I agree with your main points and am only adding my view.
As I indicated earlier, my primary front row view of the emotional and mental impact of Katrina was observing my friends who are strong, emotionally healthy, well-balanced people and who lost homes, everything they owned, or who suffered such destruction on their homes that rebuilding would have been easier and quicker.
Most of them are financially secure. Most also are Franciscans, and the Franciscan spirituality of being detached from material possessions kicked in or greatly helped them. They never said “what if.” Initially, they did ask why, but that passed. None of them have a victim mentality. But they grieved, and I think this is a necessary part of regaining emotional stability. They did not stuff their feelings to gain a false sense of control, and I never could have never told any one of them to “get a grip” in the midst of so much pain, so many tears and so much physical exhaustion.
I keep books and pay bills for a storage facility place in Diamondhead. This job brought me into contact with many, many people after Katrina since they were trying to find storage for the things they had salvaged and others were buying boxes from us to move – as quickly and as far away as possible. I saw lots of sorrow and much pain. Everyone who came in told me their story.
Katrina brought the blessing in coming face to face with how fragile we are. From this point one can rise from the ashes, and yes, praise God for his everlasting mercy and love.
We have other classmates who lived in this area and suffered the consequences of Katrina, Lyle and Lynn to name two. I know there are others. Perhaps someone can remind us of their names.
What was my personal reaction to Katrina? Generally, I was mad as hell and had to go to the doctor for prescription to calm down. I also was grateful that we had only a large tree on our sunroom and a little roof damage. And I was grateful for the Baptists from Tennessee who came strolling by one day and fixed our roof for free.
Katrina and its consequences, as you know, was not a one-day event. The picking up of the pieces goes on and on. At our ages, with youthful stamina gone, it is hard.
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