Friday, September 02, 2005
Flooded Family

This post has nothing to do with design or my work, but I feel the need to vent about the recent tragedy in the south. My family is from Mississippi, and the tragedy has hit very close to home.
When my immediate family and I heard about the incoming hurricane we started making the calls. Trying desperately to find and remember all the relatives numbers in both Mississippi and Louisiana. I come from a huge extended family, my mother is the youngest of 18 kids and that's just on my mothers side. I spent the night before the storm searching the internet for my families phone numbers... An uncle in New Orleans, cousins in Baton Rouge. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc all over Mississippi. I found myself weeping as I scrolled through the list of potential family members who share my name. Are they related? Are they safe? And then the footage of the storm start coming on TV and I am further depressed.
As the days go by am find my self shifting between utter horror and sadness to fustration and anger. Where is the help? Why aren't being helped? Even as I write this I wipe the tears from my eyes so I can see what I type and I am angry. I am angry that we are one of the richest countries in the world and are responsible for some of the most influential inventions of our time. And yet we cant seem to figure out how to get food & water, medial supplies, HELP, to hundreds of thousands of people slowly dying from lack of shelter and water.
I watch the news and they talk about people shooting at rescue helicopters, and I say to the screen, "They aren't shooting at the helicopters, they are trying to get the copters attention in order to get help." It's not like flare guns are standard issue in homes. I watch police stop people from looting stores at gun point. Police who were taken from the rescue mission in order to protect stores full of food, water and diapers that people need. What about all the perishables going to waste in those stores, that those people in need could use. I am disgusted! I don't condone theft but in a desperate time like now can you blame them from taking what they need? I don't.
To my family in the south... We hope and pray you are well. May the Lord bless you and keep you. We love you.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is a beautiful post. My heart goes out to everyone going through this. I look at what's happening on the TV and am absolutely shocked that THAT is the United States. It looks worse than some 3rd world countries I've seen! I can't believe it.

Somehow, though - as shocking as this may be - I am not surprised that America (and I mean 'America' the institution, and not any particular individual) has taken so long to respond, and it makes me wonder about the 'help' that it has offered to other countries ravaged by mother nature.

aBlank . . . I sincerely hope your family is alright. My prayers are with them.

God Bless.

7:06 PM  

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