Obligatory Katrina post

I'm not sure if I'm glad we don't have cable TV. The broadcast channels are only showing a few helicopter shots during the first 3 minutes of the nightly news. Most of my knowledge of what's going on in the Gulf coast is coming from the internet and there is just so much heartbreaking news that it really is easy to get overwhelmed. Every now and then you just got to take a break from the images and play with the kids.


Some of the news I have seen on TV showed the looting that's beginning in New Orleans. It's real easy to be disgusted by that kind of behavior. During a time of great suffering there are some folks that take advantage to grab whatever they can get hold of. It is disgusting and it is sad and it isn't excusable but it is fathomable.

Lisa and I bought our first house in April of 1996. It was a small 2.5 bedroom house built in the 1940s with sidewalks and streets lined with Live Oaks. It really was a nice little neighborhood, certainly had seen better days but still enjoyable. Probably best described as quaint. One of the little quirks it had was the power lines all ran through peoples backyards. Nearly all those backyards had 70+ year old trees shading them. While those trees were beautiful and great for tree swings, when Hurricane Bertha came through in July of that year they ripped out the powerlines like they were spiderwebs. Almost all of Wilmington was without power but the lights came on in neighborhood after neighborhood over the next few days. By the end of a week 90% of the town had it's power restored. That really doesn't sound so great when you are in that remaining 10%.
July's are hot here. Hot and muggy. When your town is filled with debris and you have to wait in line for ice and traffic is still a mess because of standing water in some places and you're playing phone tag with your insurance company and the bugs!...

Immediately after a storm when you see the destruction and you and your family are okay, you are thankful. A week later when everyone else is getting their lives back together and you're laying in a pool of sweat on your floor around a battery operated radio for a moment of distraction- those thoughts of thankfulness seem pretty far away.

Power was getting restored at this point street by street and in some cases house by house. Not too far from our place, part of one street got it's power back and the repair crews left (either to get more equipment of to get some much needed rest). Apparently it was too much for somebody on the side of the street that didn't get his power back. He grabbed his chainsaw and took the newly repair pole down, returning the whole street to darkness. If he didn't have electricity, then to hell with it all, no one else will. The gentleman was rescued from angry mob that were his neighbors and allowed to spend some nights in a well air conditioned and padded room at a local mental health facility.

I'm sitting in an air conditioned house, with a fridge full of food and electricity to power all the distractions that it brings. My children are happy and I know where I'm going to sleep tonight. I don't excuse those who are breaking into others property (but hey, if I'm starving and the local grocery store is filled with food that is just going to spoil-I wouldn't hesitate for a second). I understand that the lawlessness that looting brings invites even more chaos that will get even more people killed. But I try not to judge too quickly when it isn't my life that has been completely turned upsidedown.

And in case you couldn't find it, here's a link: