Whenever I get the paper, I always look forward to reading his editorials... read on:
Somewhere, someone feels our pain
By: Jarvis DeBerry
Heaven must be something like a world with no hurricanes.
Not just no hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. Not just no hurricanes coming at New Orleans. But no hurricanes to hope, wish, pray will go somewhere else and hit somebody else.
I was far away from New Orleans tending to some family business when Hurricane Dean formed in the Atlantic Ocean. New Orleans wasn't in the cone of probability. At least not according to the forecasts I saw. But I remember hearing one Friday morning that something called Katrina had moved across the Florida peninsula and was destined to spin toward the Panhandle and hit Apalachicola.
But that's not how things turned out.
The likeliest scenario, the meteorologists on the Weather Channel stressed, had Dean eventually slamming into the Yucatan Peninsula or maybe points farther north in Mexico along that country's Gulf coast.
I found myself wishing that forecast would prove accurate. That meant, of course, that I was effectively wishing destruction and possible death on others. Death and destruction on others who, I'll take the liberty to assume, are somewhat less financially stable than I am.
Only the fool would wish a hurricane upon himself. If that wasn't clear to us two years ago, it should be clear now. Therefore, if a storm is going to hit, our own self-interests compel us to wish it elsewhere. But our own horrific experiences with Katrina mean that if we are humane, if we have empathy, we don't want to see anybody else go through what we went through.
Consider an announcement the preacher made at my church Sunday morning. Dean, he said, looks like it isn't going to come to New Orleans. The congregation applauded. But it's going to hit somebody, he said, and we should pray for them. At that point, there seemed to be a flash of collective guilt among those in attendance. Maybe the thought occurred to them that in August 2005, somebody in Apalachicola was probably applauding Katrina's move toward New Orleans.
As Sunday turned into Monday and Monday morning turned into Monday afternoon, it seemed less and less likely that Dean would have a chance to hit New Orleans. At the same time, though, remnants of Tropical Storm Erin were causing flooding deaths up into the Midwest.
From Houston, Texas, to Minnesota City, Minn., Americans were becoming well acquainted with the horror of seeing water gushing into their homes or catching them in their cars unawares. By Monday afternoon, one person had been killed in Texas, six people in Oklahoma and six people in Minnesota. Forecasts predicted still more rain.
I wish there were some other way, short of having the experience themselves, for some Americans to know what a horrible thing it is to be flooded. Though there were many outsiders who expressed tenderness and compassion toward New Orleans after Katrina, their kindnesses were sometimes overshadowed by those arguing that we deserved it somehow, if not for our sins, then for our geographic stupidity. So New Orleans flooded; what did you expect?
May Erin show those who have been resistant to the truth that flooding is not a disaster exclusive to Louisiana or to any other coastal state. We may be at more risk, given our relative proximity to the Gulf, but we're not the only ones whose possessions can be quickly and thoroughly washed away.
Maybe the hope that others take lessons from Erin is a subversive way of gloating, of saying "I told you so," of defending this city from so many unwarranted, mean-spirited attacks. Or maybe it's a way to disguise the relief I'm feeling: that this time it's not us.
Even so, it's somebody else. And there's just no way to feel good about that.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-/deberry/index.ssf?/base/News/118767482344080.xml&coll=1
This is how Paul & I feel..."just don't come this way", but we know first hand how getting flooded, or even living in an area that has been flooded, even if it wasn't you, affects your life & your community. Our Stake President put the Stake Evacuation info in the sacrament meeting program last Sunday...just as a reminder, with Dean not coming into the Gulf, but to be prepared...The last bullet said, "to keep victims and members in your prayers".
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