The New Road

It's so hard to watch. I can't imagine being there with nothing - and I mean nothing - except hopefully my husband and kids. I have said many times through the years that if the Rapture happened and I was left to survive off the land, I would not survive very long. In the woods, I would eat the wrong berries. Or be eaten by a wild animal. I absolutely cannot see without glasses or contacts. A fact that is frightening and paralyzing by itsself. I wouldn't see a crouching animal when it was about to pounce or an unstable piece of land . . . I'm sure the people at the Superdome have heard about what's going on outside and may feel like they're safer where they are. I know I would trust that someone was coming for me. And by this point, five days later, I might be losing hope - with all the human waste, corpses, hungry and angry people there. And the kids - who knows what they're feeling. Who's protecting them? It's hard to watch this in the United States.

And I know the government is trying to fix the problem. And the lack of a speedy (enough) response and failure to reinforce the Lake Ponchetrain levy or contain the flooding has been disasterous. I'm not surprised by the human element of looting and taking advantage of the lawlessness. I don't mean people who are taking food, water, medicine, clothing. I understand that and I would do it, too. I mean people who are taking jewelry, electronics, stuff to sell - killing each other without fear of consequence. People do that. They did that before there was a natural disaster. Some people have no conscience.

I couldn't fathom why in the world anyone would shoot at the rescue helicopters at the Superdome or the hospitals. Pure evil is what it seemed like. I read one line in a news story that said, though, that the shooter was yelling, "You better come get MY family!" They're frusterated. Beyond reason. If you shoot down the copter, it can't rescue anyone - not even you and your family! I feel that maybe, though, they're shooting because it's a military presence and they're rebelling against it or frusterated by it. It's so sad. Awful.

I do agree, though, that people need to help themselves. I would think that your idea, Jack, of leaving, would have definitley been floated around at some point in these last few days. And the safety would be in numbers. Huge numbers. Form a human chain, or go en masse, move to higher ground. But the fear of the unknown is also there. Dead bodies, alligators, disease in the water, armed gangs. I would pray that rescue was coming.

I want to see more busses, a convoy of busses. I heard that the airport is reopening and they're trying to get people there and to train stations to get them out faster.

The whole situation is horrifying. And the rebuilding... It's going to take incredible leadership to get the spirit restored.