"There are three things that can happen in a ballgame, you can win the game, you can lose the game or it can rain." The great baseball manager Casey Stengel said that many years ago about weather and sports. Today marks the return of hurricane season here in the western hemisphere. As can be imagined many people along the coastal areas of our country are now collectivly holding their breath for the next 6 months. I have to admit hurricanes and the weather that comes with them fascinates me in so many ways. I can remember as a child sitting up when a bad storm was approaching. I would sit with Daddy and listen to the radio about the landfall here or there. You have to also remember that we lived in rural Macon county so we had no cable. The radio provided us with tons of info. Now yall at thinking we live up on Walton Mountain or something HA. We can now sit in front of our televisions and watch by the hour where the storms are approaching.
Nine months ago Hurricane Katrina knocked New Orleans to its knees. I recently watched an episdoe of the Ellen DeGeneres show and she went back to NO. If we were astounded by the depth of destruction 9 months ago I was UTTERLY SHOCKED to see that not very much has been done to even begin reconstruction. There are pockets of activity. Burbon Street is up and running, work is being done to the Superdome but the lower 9th ward sits in darkness. Many people who have been down talk about the lack of sounds in many areas. No cars, no voices for the most part and perhaps the weirdest thing is there are no birds. About three weeks ago a report came out that the levy system that "protects" NO would not be ready for the start of hurricane season. How is that possible? How could we not see to it that something so important to a city is still not working right ? Hell it never worked to begin with. Why does it take so much time to get anything done ? I am a huge fan of FDR ...many of you all know this. His style was to "get it done". He was proposed the idea of a large building to hold all military offices in Virginia, in late 1940.The Pentagon with its 4 million squre feet of office space was designed in one weekend during the summer of 1941. Ground was broken on September 11, 1941. Most major work was finished in a little under 16 months. WHY cant we employ the same standards in a time of emergency? Why is NO left to suffer and the coasts of Florida,Texas and South Carolina are rebuilt with such speed it makes your head spin????
Reaserchers in the United States predict that 17 named storms will form this season. Nine will become major hurricanes with the possibility of five being Katrina sized storms and New Orleans is not ready!!!!!!!
I want to go there ...I want to walk in the ruins of that city .....I want to walk out covered with the dust......I want to bring home some part of what was once a beautiful and eclectic city. I want to take my nephews before its gone. I want to see it before its gone. I want to speak with those most affected by Katrina. Maybe by going and seeing it for myself I can better understand.
No comments:
Post a Comment