A jarring blow to the mid-section of the country, this Katrina.  You have to feel it. 

There was no gas Friday in this part of town Friday.  People had freaked and filled up en masse.  Today though, there was no problem... well, no problem finding "Regular." 

I pumped up the tires on my bicycle yesterday evening.  It wouldn't actually hurt me to use self-powered transportation.  This girl has some extra booty....

I can't complain, though.  Well, yeah, the cost of transportation just rose considerably.  I could complain.  Still, none of my relative is floating in the swill of Louisiana's devastation.  They all have houses to sleep in tonight, and food and dry clothes.  They aren't missing their pets.  They haven't lost family heirlooms.  Their cars aren't in trees.  Their houses aren't broken or floating or completely waterlogged.

The truth is, for someone living at just about the poverty level, I'm doing pretty good.  I have what I need.

This morning though, in shelters in Louisianna and Mississippi, there are people dreaming that when they wake up it will have all been a terrible dream.  There are people in Texas who have been taken away from the horror and from knowing what is going on with their people.

I saw a picture of a dead man floating in the water. I noticed that his wallet was on his head.  At least someone gave him that much... letting someone know who he was after they lifted whatever cash he had.

Lower mid-section bloggers are computerless today.  They'd love to tell you what's going on.  Exhausted care workers with no end in sight.  Convoys of aid from other states needing shelter.  Bonds forming between people thrown together. Land pirates looting their neighbors, their own people.

I was touched by a picture of a 5-year-old black girl holding hands with a 105-year-old white woman as the elder was wheeled to new shelter.  Not that a baby will remember holding hands with a god....

Personal misery becomes public domain as photographed grief becomes symbolic to the nation.

Once photographed, will anyone help though?  How will they recover?  Will insurance companies deliver? 

And what will become of the area?  Will they rebuild?  Will Texas start to fill?

And what of the environment, littered with alligators, oil, pollution, corpses human and non-human, building debris and garbage? 

Yesterday, I was reading about the libraries in that region.  Some of the libraries were spared, but their contents are likely ruined.  What other great things have been destroyed?  What other treasures are we now deprived of?

If you aren't heartsick, you aren't paying attention.

 

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