Scenes of Unimaginable Destruction
I went for a walk tonight. We'd had a sudden brief downpour in the afternoon, which dropped the temperature about ten degrees and left the air cool, crisp, and autumnal. As I looked up at the sky, clear now that the rain had passed, I suddenly got to thinking (again) about the devastation caused by the hurricane last week. Oh, how the sky must have looked over New Orleans when the storm hit. What do you do, right then? Where do you go? What if you can't go anywhere? What do you do the next day, when you realize the water's coming, and it's rising?
Fortunately, I've never lived through anything like this – never had to. The closest I ever came was during my freshman year in college, when the largest hurricane to make landfall that season dropped a 25-meter-tall tree on our house. Fortunately, the tree fell on the garage, producing only a gaping hole in the roof; no one in the house was hurt. Still, not being able to get through to my family – all the phone lines were down, of course – and having to watch on CNN as the eye of the storm passed directly over my home town was incredibly nerve-wracking.
I can't even begin to imagine what the residents of New Orleans and the Gulf coast are going through. As I watch the coverage on the news here – which has been plentiful, despite the fact that New Orleans is a quarter-world away – the exact same thoughts keep coming to mind, over and over again: This looks like another news report from some third-world country. How can this be happening in America? Most of last week the news keept coming, each dispatch sadder than the last. This story made me shake my head; this one made me cry. (Yes, I realize these are both from mainstream, US media. I also realize there is other coverage out there. But this hurricane didn't hit any of those places.)
Fortunately, it appears the initial reports of lives lost may have been somewhat pessimistic. Still, the casualties and damage are unquestionably catastrophic; as I watch the news reports, I cannot even begin to comprehend what I see. I feel essentially helpless – there's so little I can do from here, although I will definitely be donating to the American Red Cross. It seems like such an insignificant gesture, given that people have lost their loved ones, homes, and so on. I'll just have to resign myself to faith in the law of large numbers and hope for the best.
My heart goes out to you all.
Fortunately, I've never lived through anything like this – never had to. The closest I ever came was during my freshman year in college, when the largest hurricane to make landfall that season dropped a 25-meter-tall tree on our house. Fortunately, the tree fell on the garage, producing only a gaping hole in the roof; no one in the house was hurt. Still, not being able to get through to my family – all the phone lines were down, of course – and having to watch on CNN as the eye of the storm passed directly over my home town was incredibly nerve-wracking.
I can't even begin to imagine what the residents of New Orleans and the Gulf coast are going through. As I watch the coverage on the news here – which has been plentiful, despite the fact that New Orleans is a quarter-world away – the exact same thoughts keep coming to mind, over and over again: This looks like another news report from some third-world country. How can this be happening in America? Most of last week the news keept coming, each dispatch sadder than the last. This story made me shake my head; this one made me cry. (Yes, I realize these are both from mainstream, US media. I also realize there is other coverage out there. But this hurricane didn't hit any of those places.)
Fortunately, it appears the initial reports of lives lost may have been somewhat pessimistic. Still, the casualties and damage are unquestionably catastrophic; as I watch the news reports, I cannot even begin to comprehend what I see. I feel essentially helpless – there's so little I can do from here, although I will definitely be donating to the American Red Cross. It seems like such an insignificant gesture, given that people have lost their loved ones, homes, and so on. I'll just have to resign myself to faith in the law of large numbers and hope for the best.
My heart goes out to you all.
posted by Biff at 21:21
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