Perspective

I could be moping about today.  This is the last in a lovely, long string of 60-plus days that I've been able to stay at home.  Sleeping late and not having to work but with bills still managing to get paid.  I have to start my new job tomorrow.  I shall return to waking up in the dark hours, and in a few short months, to also be driving home in the dark.  A return to wearing suits and stockings and heels and getting a scant five hours of sleep instead of nine.

So no more lounging around reading books, catching up on sleep, going barefoot or at most wearing flip-flops.  An end to leisurely cups of tea in the morning, and to afternoon naps. No more being all caught up on housekeeping and errands and letter-writing. 

I could also be pouting today about the price of gas.  The cost here rose thirty cents last night alone.  I waited on a line of cars to fill up my tank today at the only place around that was still under $3 a gallon.  Starting tomorrow, I'll be driving 116 miles round-trip to work each day.  And even though my car gets decent mileage, I figure I'm going to be spending $360 a month or so for gas, even if prices rise no further.  But you and I know they will.

So I could be a bit grumpy today, but I've neither the right nor the desire. Because unlike the folks in Katrina's wake, I have a home.  A bed.  An alarm clock to wake me.  Clothes to put on.  A car to put gas into, and roads open to drive long miles on.  A job to drive to.  I'm alive, and safe, and grateful to be so.

I can't find the words to describe my feelings of horror and sadness about the catastrophe.  You don't need them anyway; you're probably feeling the same thing.   I cried off and on, then grew a bit numb watching CNN for hours on end yesterday.  The pictures, videos, interviews, rescues. Nearly unimaginable tragedy.  But one live shot yesterday of a reporter in (I believe) Biloxi caught me by surprise. 

He was interviewing someone, and in the background you could hear drums, of all things. And shortly afterwards, the source came into the camera's view.  A small drum corps band was leading a group of about 20 men carrying chainsaws, rakes and shovels.  They'd formed a small parade of sorts, there in the midst of calamity and chaos.  Marching off two-by-two, in step to the drumbeats, to begin making some minuscule but heroic dent in the massive piles of debris.   

The human spirit never ceases to amaze me. 

On the flip side of the coin but still utterly amazing in a bad way . . . In case you haven't had the luxury of sitting on your couch watching CNN all afternoon (or wisely chose to do something more productive), I just saw a video clip taken from inside AirForce One a few hours ago.  Seems W asked them to fly him over some of the areas affected by Katrina, while he was returning to Washington from his vacation in Texas.  The reporter quoted W as saying, as he surveyed the damage:  "It's devasating.  And probably doubly devastating on the ground."

Well, DUH. 

Comments

[jim]

good luck in the new job

[Bekah]

It is awful. Lafayette is now jam-packed with evacuees. People are enrolling their kids into local schools and looking for temporary work because they've been told they can't return for at least a month, most likely more. This is the first time since I've moved here that I can honestly say that traffic sucks.

[Bekah]

*I didn't mean to sound so conceded and be all, "Poor me, traffic sucks..." these people who are living out of our Cajundome don't even know if they'll have a home to go back to when they're allowed back into New Orleans. It's all so tragic, and to make matters worse, people have gone completely ape shit and are looting and shooting and what the hell is wrong with them?

[scorpy]

Good luck on the new job, as Jim said. I bet you're a knockout in heels and hose. ;)

It makes me sad for all the people formerly of New Orleans and the surrounding areas that devastation hit them as it has. However, I have to admit I'm a little selfish, and it also makes me very sad for me. Where else are we going to do our annual St. Pat's pilgrimage to? While I mull it over, I will keep the victims in my thoughts and prayers.

[Lynne]

My jaw drops a little lower with each piece of footage I see on the tv and find myself exclaiming WTF! more frequently.

I keep looking over at my 2 yr old and wondering how I'd cope no being able to feed him for 3 days.