I honestly don’t know what to say. I’ve finally got my eye’s off of the trivial issues with my church organization to follow the tragedy that is the Katrina devastation.
Wow.
The chaos and anarchy of the Superdome.
Thousands living like animals in the convention center.
Dead lying in the streets.
Murders. Looting. Shooting at rescue helicopters. Even the police are on the run, reduced to defending their stations overnight instead of protecting the streets.
The national guard sent in with orders to shoot to kill.
But then there are the heroes.
Nurses and doctors refusing to leave their patients behind, carrying them down seven floors of stairs, in the dark, to evacuate them.
Dozens of offers from out of state for families to come and stay indefinitely, enroll in schools. No price tag.
Houston opening the unused Astrodome, filling it with cots. A local Papa John’s Pizza shop owner putting up $25,000 and sending in his employees to feed the ‘refugees’ as they come in.
I just watched the Mayor of San Antonio on CNN. They are preparing to accept some of those now homeless. Asked how many they are prepared to accept? As many as they send. If it’s 25,000 that need help, then that’s what we’ll take. Where will they put them? Among other things, they are busy, overnight, air conditioning a large building on a former air force base to prepare to house 7,000 or so. They are prepared to welcome the kids into their schools. How will they pay for it? The mayor and the city council have opened the city’s pocketbooks. They should get much of it back, but they aren’t waiting for those assurances to help. He said they want them to know that they are loved, and to restore some of their lost dignity. They are welcome in San Antonio.
It’s an amazing, infuriating and heartbreaking situation. Keep praying for safety, order and hope.
Just seeing it makes my jaw drop at the devastaion.
In my sinful nature I wonder if God allowed it to happen to the “big easy.” I think of sin and when I hear the bad stuff happening I think why rebuild. I wonder if the world is doing anything to help like we helped Tsunami. I get full of negative critical thoughts that I know are wrong and I need to change. I’ve begun to understand how important love is and when I’m like this its frustrating to see how far I have to go to be loving. I’ve forgotten that I need to hurt for those people.
this made me impressed as well. our city has always been hospitable, perhaps because of our relative poverty, but i’m anxious to see how we fare hosting throngs in san antonio. – soupablog
My heart goes out to these people. It has also made be very grateful for what we do have. I cannot imagine losing everything like that. But no matter where you are or what happens the one thing that no one can take from you is your faith!