Katrina and the Waves

Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee certainly wasn't dry...

What a mess. The Gulf Coast is destroyed. Millions of people are affected. Hundreds of thousands are displaced. And, in addition to New Orleans existing below sea-level, it is now below the sea. Talking heads on the left are complaining about talking heads on the right who are complaining about the talking heads on the left, who are complaining about the talking heads on right, and so on and so forth. There's nothing like a tragedy of biblical proportions to bring out the nut jobs from all shades of the spectrum. Politicians doing what they do best, making political hay out of other's misfortune.

From time to time, fate throws situations at us, both natural and man-made, that show a fundamental flaw in human nature. That is the inability to face facts that make us uncomfortable. Anyone with a subscription to National Geographic (member since 1992!) has known that storms form at sea, they sometimes turn into hurricanes, sometimes really, really big hurricanes, and these storms have an appetite for the Southeast coast of the US.

Faced with 100% - 0% chance of a cat 5 hurricane finally hitting New Orleans, what do humans do? Do they cease building big, expensive homes on the coast? Do they contemplate moving New Orleans? Do they diversify the nation's oil refinery industry, building new plants in other parts of the country? No. They build houses, they fight new refineries, and they continue to party during Mardi Gras.

New Orleans was protected by a series of levees designed and built to withstand a cat 3 level hurricane. Katrina was a cat 5. What are the chances that could happen? I'd say about 100%. To dredge up an old cliche, it's not a question of if, it's a question of when. Will the San Andreas fault slip causing an unbelievably horrible earthquake leveling either Los Angles or San Francisco or both? Yes. When? Good question. But it will happen.

There is nothing that can be done to thwart mother nature. We can calculate the odds, the risks, weigh the options. But we can never be 100% safe. Mother nature will see to that. Please donate anything you can to help the survivors. Old clothes, supplies, money, time, effort. Our fellow Americans need our help. Odds are, some day, so will you.

North American Mission Board Disaster Relief
Samaritan's Purse
Salvation Army
Operation Blessing Hurricane Relief
Methodist Relief
Mercy Corps
Episcopal Relief and Development
Catholic Charities USA
American Red Cross