LA_MERC_Dirge
September 9th, 2005, 06:55 PM
Ya know, today I had an interesting and enlightening conversation with an older gentleman that was both unexpected in its occurrence as well as its subsequent enlightenments. I happened to be in the BellSouth yard with the security guards while I oversaw a forklift being transferred to another yard when a civilian car pulled up eyeballing us curiously. After the guards approached the man, it was discovered that it was Mr. Mothe, the owner and operator of a local funeral home that has been in operation in NOLA since the 1930's at least. Well, Mr. Mothe was one of the morticians under contract with the local parish governments to process victims from the disaster. He was having problems with his phone service, so another engineer and myself took to the task of helping him get his service back.
After researching the problem, we took the 1/2 mile ride to the man's business to meet with some outside technicians and survey the situation. During the course of restoring service, I had the opportunity to discuss various things with this man. Invariably, the topic of conversation turned to the storm and storms of the past. It began with my comment that his building rode out the storm well. The man's answer surprised me as he stated bluntly, almost offended, that it had ridden out every storm since 1938. He proceeded to roll of the years and names of the great storms to hit the area since then. He then launched into a comparative description of Katrina to the storms he had witnessed and the effects he had seen from both.
This is where I thought the relevance of someone of his experience could be shared with others to some benefit. For those of you who don't know, THE storm (before Katrina) was Camille in 1969. While Betsy hit the NOLa area and flooded it in a way similar to Katrina, Camille was a monster that has moved into the ethereal regions of local lore. Camille was the storm that introduced us to horrific storm surges along shallow coastal shelves, leaving hurricane partiers in trees miles inland. This man went on to state how while water may be bad, some areas didn't get hit near as hard as Camille. Heck to hear him tell it, this storm was a nuisance compared to Camille.
Okay, you may be wondering where I am going with all of this. Well, the times we live in make everything seem bigger than it really may be. The internet and proliferation of 24 hour information has created this. I see things daily about how this area will never be rebuilt, this area should never be rebuilt, ad nauseum. Heck, the poll of Americans stating that NOLA should not be rebuilt in its current location downright saddened me. But after talking with this simple funeral parlor owner, I realized that while Katrina's impact is great and the cost dear, it is only another event that we as individuals, Louisianans, and Americans must overcome. I see on the news, newsmen stating that Venice and lower Plaquemines will never be the same, maybe not rebuilt. Then I hear the situation was WORSE in 1969, but here there was something to be destroyed in 2005. The same is true of coastal Mississippi. The scope expands past there to other parts of the nation and the world. There is still an Oklahoma after the Dust Bowl, there are still cities from Atlanta to the Atlantic after Sherman, there is still a Dresden after WWII...
Do yourself a favor if you haven't, but better yet do us all a favor and remind people that New Orleans and the Gulf Coast will be back and it will be back better. In the meantime, remind people to support the restoration effort. Sure, take time to mourn the fallen. But mourn them as we do in New Orleans, in celebration, by second-lining and having a toast to their lives. Whenever someone raises something negative, like the so-called race issue, remind them of the past rebuilding and not to dwell in the tragedy, but look forward to the future.
Okay, enough rambling from Dirge, I think I said a little more than I intended and maybe even along some different lines.
After researching the problem, we took the 1/2 mile ride to the man's business to meet with some outside technicians and survey the situation. During the course of restoring service, I had the opportunity to discuss various things with this man. Invariably, the topic of conversation turned to the storm and storms of the past. It began with my comment that his building rode out the storm well. The man's answer surprised me as he stated bluntly, almost offended, that it had ridden out every storm since 1938. He proceeded to roll of the years and names of the great storms to hit the area since then. He then launched into a comparative description of Katrina to the storms he had witnessed and the effects he had seen from both.
This is where I thought the relevance of someone of his experience could be shared with others to some benefit. For those of you who don't know, THE storm (before Katrina) was Camille in 1969. While Betsy hit the NOLa area and flooded it in a way similar to Katrina, Camille was a monster that has moved into the ethereal regions of local lore. Camille was the storm that introduced us to horrific storm surges along shallow coastal shelves, leaving hurricane partiers in trees miles inland. This man went on to state how while water may be bad, some areas didn't get hit near as hard as Camille. Heck to hear him tell it, this storm was a nuisance compared to Camille.
Okay, you may be wondering where I am going with all of this. Well, the times we live in make everything seem bigger than it really may be. The internet and proliferation of 24 hour information has created this. I see things daily about how this area will never be rebuilt, this area should never be rebuilt, ad nauseum. Heck, the poll of Americans stating that NOLA should not be rebuilt in its current location downright saddened me. But after talking with this simple funeral parlor owner, I realized that while Katrina's impact is great and the cost dear, it is only another event that we as individuals, Louisianans, and Americans must overcome. I see on the news, newsmen stating that Venice and lower Plaquemines will never be the same, maybe not rebuilt. Then I hear the situation was WORSE in 1969, but here there was something to be destroyed in 2005. The same is true of coastal Mississippi. The scope expands past there to other parts of the nation and the world. There is still an Oklahoma after the Dust Bowl, there are still cities from Atlanta to the Atlantic after Sherman, there is still a Dresden after WWII...
Do yourself a favor if you haven't, but better yet do us all a favor and remind people that New Orleans and the Gulf Coast will be back and it will be back better. In the meantime, remind people to support the restoration effort. Sure, take time to mourn the fallen. But mourn them as we do in New Orleans, in celebration, by second-lining and having a toast to their lives. Whenever someone raises something negative, like the so-called race issue, remind them of the past rebuilding and not to dwell in the tragedy, but look forward to the future.
Okay, enough rambling from Dirge, I think I said a little more than I intended and maybe even along some different lines.