Notes below were posted on Tuesday, September 06, 2005

No New Pictures

I haven't been with Megan since my last post, but just to prove that I'm a multi-dimensional individual I decided to create another post anyway.

Probably the most significant event in the past few weeks has been hurricane Katrina. We weren't directly affected here in NC, but being in the South and with a history of hurricanes, we keep a close eye on them as they approach and can certainly sympathize with victims. We sustained $22,000 worth of damage during Hurricane Fran in 1996 and were a couple of weeks without power. Barbara and I have contributed a small amount of money to the relief effort, but I was moved to find that the young mother that got me started on this blogging thing actually was affected to the point of flying to Louisiana to offer assistance. Her compassion was stirred by video of babies the age of her daughter who are suffering from malnourishment and dehydration.

The "old friend" that I referred to in my August 21 post (Beverly) also was affected by Katrina. She lives in Tupelo, MS. An excerpt from her email follows (Dennis is her son-in-law, Roy is her husband):

Dennis', parents (and many of his aunts/uncles/cousins) live in Waynesboro, MS a
little over a hundred miles from the coast (he grew up in Biloxi - D'Iberville,
actually). They had lots of tree damage and lost 80% of their roof. They've had
no phone or electrical power since the storm hit Monday morning. Lori &
Dennis gathered provisions Tuesday and early Wednesday morning Dennis flew down
there. Lori and Mallory followed in the truck bringing a generator, water, ice
and roofing materials. Dennis' cousin, Neil, (a NASA shuttle launch engineer)
and a friend of his, drove up from Merritt Island, FL bringing chain saws,
generators and a 50 gal. barrel of diesel fuel. Roy left this morning headed
down there with more supplies to help with the clean-up.
In addition to that, Beverly’s daughter, Lori, will be housing and home-schooling an 8-year old nephew who’s home was lost in Slidell, LA. His mom, Dennis’ sister, is single and will stay behind as she works with the relief effort as part of an emergency response team. The city of Slidell is uninhabitable with no utilities and schools are expected to be closed for several months.

With all that is in the news about the negative side of human reaction to catastrophes (looting, price-gouging, inefficient bureaucracy, etc.), it certainly is encouraging to see the actions of compassionate Americans. This kind of response shows the best part of humanity and typically is under-reported.