esrosedotblog

AFTERMATH

It has been two weeks and more since Katrina. I suppose that all of us have been affected in some way from the experience; direct or indirect.

It is hard not to get all self referential about it. I have heard people who are perfectly dry and in well established homes go on about how upset they are and how New Orleans was one of their favorite places. OK.

Some of this is warranted. We all have memories. I did some of that on here the other day.

But it is pretty hard for me to get going on any of my own angst about it when I read, day after day, the personal stories of the people affected directly.

Right now, I am aware of an article I saw the other day. It claimed that this is the largest diaspora in this country since the dust bowl.

Unlike the dust bowl, though, the people who are being spread are not just the poor. There are many middle class (and up) folks who have no place to return to.

Many have already chosen not to return at all. For some, it is the nightmare of returning to the same place that one lost everything. For others, it is the charge of adrenalin of starting out anew. The past has been erased involuntarily but the future presents a different and exciting challenge.

So much depends upon our attitude.

Yes, I know that no one will be immune from the psychological shock and the loss of of self that such tragedy brings. But I can hope that these results are temporary.

It will be an interesting time to see how these folks adjust to their new situation.

It was certainly a shock for a few planeloads of NOLA people to touch down in Utah. It will be interesting to see how the people of Utah react to them.

But, beyond interesting, can't we hope that some good will come out of this for some people who had reached a dead end where they were? Or, for others, who had a pretty good life, a chance to redesign and reshape to make the inner and outer self fit more closely?

We are always saying (well some of us) that the good life requires change and challenge and stressful experience. Can we not also hope for these people that this could be a good new start?

I would hope so.

I know that I am coming terribly close to the sentiment expressed by the bitchess barbara bush the other day. That, after all, many of these people are better off as they were 'underprivileged' (a revealing term in and of itself). In so many words, "you never had it so good".

No. I am taking a different fork in the road. I am not skipping the tragic result; the empathy and sadness for what has been lost.

I am just exercising a bit of my optimist outlook; hoping that some of these people will be able to do the same and be able to get on with it soon. That the human spirit will rise.