Monday, February 13, 2006

Cant sleep

Tired of Katrina stories?

You are lucky.

My friend Craig had to get on a plane in New Orleans.

Used to be,

 Before,

when you came across the Pontchatrain Bridge, you saw the city spread before you and it was like someone had dropped their jewelry box....lights as far as you could see and your stomach would tighten 'cause you knew you were about to have a good time, something fun was going to happen....

It is as dark as the grave it became after the storm.

The huge airport, so big you have to take a bus to get from one terminal ot the next....there is NO ONE THERE...I keep saying it over and over to myself because I can't believe it.

 From the time you get past the counters, go down the escalator, go out the door and into the parking lot...

There is no one there.

People like to distance themselves from disaster.

I have seen people write things online...

"well;, all those people could have evacuated"

How many people have the money to spend 10 hours in a car to go 200 miles, when you can't get off on the exit because you can't get back on?

And sometimes if you do have money for 3 tanks of gas to drive for 10 hours to get 200 miles in the traffic, there is no gas to buy.

It is 100 degrees and your car will overheat if you run the air conditioner.

I see, "They should have left earlier" in some blogs.

Would anyone have the money to leave 4 days early to stay in a motel?

Could you leave your job for a week?

There are no vacancies if you do...

Would you want to take a chance on being stuck in your car with your family in the storm?

There are no shelters inland...

I am not a worrier.

I live on the sunnyside.

But I have a friend who works on a oil rig in the Gulf.

The water temperature right now is 68 degrees.

It is normally in the mid fifties this time of year.

I keep seeing that empty airport.

And for the first time in my life of parties on the beach...

I am dreading the summer winds

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I would be dreading them to!!! I wish there was a way to divert them or weaken them!!! We can put people on the moon and do all sorts of other stuff... why can't we do something about huricanes? http://journals.aol.com/shayshaydc/Golfaholic
Sharon:)

Anonymous said...

Stay on the sunnyside!  I can still feel the loss in your words, things will never be the dame there, it will take on a new vibe of its own and once in awhile you will feel the old vibe, but everything changes after something of that magnitude.........9/11 forever changed me and my life.

Anonymous said...

This is not good, Marti. The Administration can continue to deny the obvious and try to muzzle the environmental scientists, but anyone with a functional brain can determine what is happening.
"5 to 1, baby, 1 in 5, no one here gets out alive." - Morrison
Sorry. Feeling not so sunny today.
Bon & Mal

Anonymous said...

Definitely makes you think, huh? Thanx for drawing that "picture" for us. rich

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this Marti!   your journal entry should be sent to Washington or news media   the world needs a true insider's view of Katrina!!!~kbear

Anonymous said...

I feel so bad about the victims of Katrina.  

Anonymous said...

You are right. You had to have been there. Most of us cannot imagine such a thing coming to wreak havoc in our lives, no to destroy our lives. Most likely, anyone who had a place to go, went. And anyone who had the means to make such a trip, left. Everyone else had to take their chances, on the road or in the coliseum, or wherever they made their final stand. If you weren't there, you just cannot know. You cannot even pretend to know, not sitting from your dry home thousands of miles away. We do desire a system that can help people out when such things happen, though. In some ways, that system was not prepared to handle the numbers of people involved. But if you think about the numbers involved, once the help arrived, they were moved out pretty quickly. I think many of us are already forgetting, unless we have people who have transplanted into our neighborhoods from the areas affected by Katrina. Your entry is a sad reminder that much was lost, and we can only wonder if you will ever see your beloved city again, as you remember it. Bea