It's been a long while.... a lot has changed

Just when you think your life seem like it's in an endless cycle something happens that turns it upside down. I'm one of the fortunate who did not lose anything but a few days of electricity and sleep, but the catastrophy of Hurricane Katrina has affected me deeply. Many of the people I know or go to school with have lost everything, and I don't have much I can offer to them. Also the company that I work for processes the donations for the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army, as well as the line for the Red Cross to find family members or get assistance from the Red Cross. The Friday after Katrina I worked 1030AM-1030PM, and Saturday 1030AM-930PM, as well as the following Monday, taking nonstop calls for these 3 lines. Many times it took all I had not to breakdown while trying to help some of these people find their loved ones because we had no information about where anyone was, only suggestions on how to find them. The sad part was the suggestions that the Red Cross gave us were just plain ignorant, so we were thinking on our feet most of them time to help these people, and having them call other numbers to find out information. The suggestions included- try calling after peak hours, after 10 PM and through the night..(hello the phone lines are down!).. try sending them an e-mail(hello again sherlock!)...try contacting other friends or family members they may have contacted(this was common sense which most people had already done).... use the internet to go online to www.whitepages.com and find their neighbors phone numbers and try calling them to get in touch with them(again, hello sherlock!). The only valid suggestion we had was to send their loved on a self-addressed stamped envelope to the former address because the evacuees were asked to forward their mail in order to get mailings such as social security or paychecks.

I did have some calls that touched my heart.

The first was an old lady who was trying to find a loved one from New Orleans. She had tried all of the suggestions, and I talked with her for about 20 minutes and found out that she had relatives in LaPlace that her loved one may have taken refuge with, but she had no way to look up the phone number or call directory assistance. So we talked for a few minutes more and a thought hit me out of nowhere. I asked this sweet lady if she had transportation to a local library and she said yes. I told her that if she could get to the library she could get someone to help her get on the internet and find the listing for her relative in LaPlace so that she could call them and see if her loved one from New Orleans was there. The gratitude from this lady could not be expressed, I was afraid she was going to get too excited when I suggested this. I hope that she found the person she was looking for. I hope that I helped at least one person.

Another situation that I had was a truck driver from a northern state that called in. He said he had gotten together with someone from his company and he had some other drivers who had also gotten together with people from their companies and the end result was a fleet of 18 wheelers filled with supplies. They had food, toiletries, etc., and had no place to go with it and needed me to tell them where to go. They were also worried because they knew about the fuel shortage that we were having and they wondered if they would have the fuel to get back when they got down here. It's things like this that leave me speechless. It took me a moment but finally I got out a few mumbled words of gratitude and told him how he could coordinate with his local chapter of the Red Cross to find out where exactly he needed to go to bring this fleet of supplies to the evacuees. After that I had to take a break to clear my head. It's overwhelming.

Other calls that I got were from doctors and nurses from all over the country who wanted to volunteer, and also regular people who wanted to come down and cut trees or help with the rescue effort. People are still calling to give their time to help, whether it be locally or to come down to Louisiana and help. I'm still getting calls for donations ranging from $10 to my highest which was $5000.... and no I did not stutter... $5000 from one person. The average is between $100 and $300. People from all over the nation have called in, of all ages.

When I was at work that Friday and Saturday I hadn't seen many images, I didn't get electricity back until that Saturday night at 11:20PM. All I had seen were a few images at my mom's friends house when I went with her to scam a shower so I didn't stink for work. We'd been listening non-stop to the radio so I was somewhat prepared for what I saw. What I wasn't prepared for was the images of all the children in the shelters. The dozens of toddlers and infants. One news story of a several week old baby who fell into the water and was rescued by a N.O. police officer. It broke my heart. The only thing that makes it somewhat better for them is that they won't remember this horrific event that is forever imprinted in our minds. They won't have to remember the images of floating corpses, or the story of the nursing home who's staff left the residents there to die. They won't have to remember the toxicity. They won't remember the 20 foot wave that wiped out an entire town in Mississippi. What I hope they do remember is the resilience of South Louisiana and Mississippi. Because by the time they start to remember things life will be getting back to normal, with tourists and Mardi Gras. And on that note I'll leave you with a small letter that was posted for us at work. I hope you enjoy it. Be safe everyone, you are all in my prayers.

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Dear America
I suppose we should introduce ourselves-We're South Louisiana.

We have arrived on your doorstep on short notice and we apologize for that, but we never were much for waiting around for invitations. We're not much on formalities like that.

And we might be staying around your town for a while, enrolling in your schools and looking for jobs, so we wanted to tell you a few things about us. We know you didn't ask for this and neither did we, so we're just going to have to make the best of it. First of all, WE THANK YOU!!! For your money, your water, your food, your prayers, your boats and buses and the men and women of your National Guards, fire departments, hospitals and everyone else who has come to our rescue.

We're a fiercely proud and independent people, and we don't cotton much to outside interference, but we're not ashamed to accept help when we need it. And right now, we need it.

Just don't get carried away. For instance, once we get around to fishing again, don't try to tell us what kind of lures work best in your waters. We're not going to listen, we're stubborn that way.

You probably already know that we talk funny and listen to strange music and eat things you'd probably hire and exterminator to get out of your yard.

We dance even if there's no radio. We drink at funerals. We talk too much and laugh too loud and live too large and, frankly, we're suspicious of other who don't.

But we'll try not to judge you while we're in your town.

Everybody love their home, we know that. But we love South Louisiana with a ferocity that borders of the pathological. Sometimes we bury our dead in LSU sweatshirts.

Often we don't make sense, You may wonder why, for instance, if we could carry one small bag of belongings with us on our journey to your state-why in the world did we bring a pair of shrimp boots?

We can't really explain that. It is what it is.

You've probably head that many of us stayed behind. As bad as it is, many of us cannot fathom a life outside of our border, out in that place we call "Elsewhere"

The only way you could understand that is if you have been there, and so many of you have. So you realize that when your strip away all the craziness and the bars and parades and music and architecture and all that hooey, really the best that about where we come from is us. We are what made this place a national treasure. We're good people. And don't be afraid to ask us how to pronounce our names. It happens all the time.

When you meet us now and look into our eyes, you will see the saddest story ever told. Our Hearts are broken into a thousand pieces. But don't pity us. We're gonna make it. We're resilient. After all, we've been rooting for th Saints for 35 years. That's got to count for something.

Ok, maybe something else you should know is that we make jokes at inappropriate times. And one more thing. In our part of the country, we're used to having visitors. It's our way of life. So when all this is over and we move back home, we will repay to you the hospitality and generosity of spirit you offer to us in this season of our despair. That is our PROMISE- that is our FAITH!

-Author unknown