Haunted House 2

@Organik: To say the least, it was daunting to enter this once-familiar and loving home and find it looking like this.

@e.: My mother in law no longer lives in metropolitan New Orleans. In fact, few of our immediate family members live there anymore; this is a personal and family tragedy as both my family and my wife's family roots in New Orleans go more than five generations deep. And our family's story is not unique. To be forced out this way is akin to exile from a way of life that was so familiar and beloved, and can hardly be duplicated in any other American city or town.

@tyan: Here's the rest of the story, tyan. Although at 78 years old, she can no longer live here or really expect to recoup her losses (insurance paid virtually nothing), my mother in law is a gracious, faithful person who is thankful that no one in her family was lost in the storm. She says these material losses are just "things" that don't matter. She's a pretty awesome lady, IMO. But now she has gone from being a home-owner to living in a tiny church-subsidized independent living apartment for senior adults in a little bitty town in So. Louisiana. I think this bothers us more than it does her. That too is amazing.

@Mandy: Actually the flooding was more the after-shock of Katrina than the direct hit. Rain and storm-surge waters (including a 30 foot tidal surge that came across the wetlands from the Gulf) overwhelmed the levees and lingered and sat in lower lying parts of the metro area for weeks. My mother in law's home was under 10-12 feet of water in her (formerly) neat suburban neighborhood for at least 3 weeks.

@ColNed Pictures: Life will go on, and touristy parts of metropolitian New Orleans are either ok or coming back; but it is the middle class neighborhoods and the poorer parts of town that have been hit hardest and helped least. Our home city may likely become either a developer/profiteer's vision (parody of itself), or else public attention will wane, and thus forgotten, it will gradually become whatever it becomes.

@Sriram: Yes, scary and heart-breaking.

@Wolfgang Prigge: I don't want to sound as if not much has been done, but the scale of the destruction and devastation is beyond anyone's modern experience. And there are those resident levels of governmental corruption and incompetence that must be dealt with -- starting with the local level, then to the state, and finally to the federal level. This, mixed with New Orleans' characteristic passionate yet ambivalent self, and a good dose of media hype makes for a knot of titanic proportions.

The best help (IMO) has come from the private sector, and faith-based communities. People, organizations, and church groups unselfishly volunteering their time and energy, and resources to help metro New Orleans recover have been a consistent bright spot in this whole thing. But it's so huge a task!

@Me , Myself & Eye: Multiply your reaction by tens of thousands of homes and spread it over much of a metro area.

@Amir: Well that is your opinion. Now this is mine. America is far more than just the government. When the American people themselves grow as bloated and disinterested in the needs of others as you describe our government as being, then I'll concede the point. Until then, I do believe there is hope. But I also think you are partly right -- our system as it is -- democrat and republican alike, needs to be shaken up, and the American people, not foreign interests or powers, are the ones to do that shaking. This is our responsibility, and we need to see it as such and start voting and learning issues, and quit being swayed by mega-million dollar campaigns that are geared toward electing or re-electing the powerful. So that we can remember our system of government for what it is at its best, and begin behaving again like the responsible, informed, unselfish electorate that we once seemed we were.

Thank you though, for your opinion. I recognize America and Americans are not universally popular in this current world. But then, we never were, except in times of world crisis when our resources could be called upon to save or bolster nations and regimes in peril.

@rainsocks: It's a tough adjustment for the people who have been forced to leave their city and homes.

@Ian Bramham: Yes, beneath the numbing statistics and information overload, there are individual people like my mother in law; and their stories are quite often truly inspiring and deeply heart-rending.

@Lorraine: "T'was grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home..."

@Reza: Stuff like this can put a lot into perspective. I hope that from this I am learning to become more compassionate for the plight of others.

@Brian: Yes, the power of even one image can do this.

@Amir: Amir, you are very gracious and I certainly welcome you to my site at all times.

What I have appreciated about Am3 is the good relations we've all managed across national boundaries and differing national interests. I believe it is these kinds of friendships that will ultimately make for world peace and understanding, perhaps far ahead of any official acts of "diplomacy" if our people and your people and other people simply refuse to hate or embrace unacceptable levels of international political hostility. Maybe this is idealistic, maybe this is unlikely. But who would have thought an Iranian and an American could meet in the middle over something as simple as photography? Blessings to you, my friend.

@Laurie: It is. But New Orleans has a resident joy within its collective soul, that may yet overcome even the worst adversity, in time.

@Lost Valley View: Thank you LVV, and your daughter is wonderful to take the lead in such a way. Please thank her for me and thousands of New Orleanians who have been crushed by this storm. Each and every expression of caring like hers and yours comes as a great blessing and comfort.

@Rebecca: Thank you for these caring thoughts Rebecca; and for the compassion that is in your heart for all who have suffered like this in New Orleans and around the world.

@Richard_Irwin: The amazing thing about my mother in law is that while she has lost most of what she had, she is very much a survivor and is quite happy in her reduced circumstances. I am so reminded by her example of something St. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:11-13 -- "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

@FC: Few New Orleanians lay the whole blame at the feet of the federal government. But what hurts is to see the degrees of incompetence and callusness at each level of government, starting with the local and state officials supposedly elected to directly represent your best interests. Federal posturing and indifference only makes it all that much worse.

@MaryB: Hidden blessings -- New Orleans may not survive as it has been, but in some unexpected ways its diaspora and tragedy may cause "it" (the culture and soul of New Orleans) to spread far more widely than it otherwise would have in its untouched parochial pre-Katrina condition.

@HorseRotorVator: New Orleans and the LA/MS Gulf Coast is America's opportunity to demonstrate the same unselfish spirit that led to the Marshall Plan post WWII and the amazing rebuilding of Japan. What is lacking now is vision and leadership to help bring that about.

@Stunner: Yes, sad. But also a great opportunity is before us as a nation.

@bronzebilly u.k.: Thank you Billy. Tragedy is something that simply raises its head at different times and in different ways. The tragedy of the Blitz which England endured is something I can only marvel over; how your nation withstood that horror continues to inspire any who understand history's tale. And that is but one example. Katrina is another. As I said at your place on Thurs, I'd like to shake your hand if I could. So consider that done, at least in a cyber sense, mon ami.

@Betsy Barron : www.thebetsy.com: Thank you Betsy. Sometimes "OH MY" is the most articulate and intelligent thing a person can say in the face of such an awesome scale of destruction; this photo is not one of exceptional awefulness, it's mostly typical of the aftermath of the storm's flooding, repeated by the thousands of homes across the eastern city and metro area. Yes, it is an "OH MY" event, and remains so for countless people still displaced from their ravaged homes.

@Rabbit: Thank you, friend Rabbit. Your gift of much strength and love is most welcome and received. For my wife and I, who were already living away from NOLA before the storm, it's a weird feeling to know our roots are ripped up and our place is so horribly changed. There is almost a sense of guilt that we feel for not being hit by the same material losses as our loved ones back home. Since Katrina, we've been back numerous times, but sadly, while the progress being made in the neighborhoods is progress, it is blessedly slow and tragically piecemeal. I think restoration is a lifetime's work that will not be finished before we go on to glory.