~piusx

Everybody,

Wow, I just read a bunch of first hand reports of what New Orleans has been like since the hurricane, and, of course, it's shocked me. I've heard about the looting, and that never suprised me. It is, afterall, New Orleans.

The biggest part of the whole fiasco are the reports of bodies; of people stranded in hotels, and the reports of New Orlean's Peace Officers, at least, before the National Guard and Marine Corps. arrive on the scene.

The dead bodies aren't disturbing; it's the way the dead bodies are. Lying on the streets, in attics, and, maost disturbing to me; of eldery that died in their wheelchairs, and have been sitting there for days.

It's amazing that New Orleans just became a free-for-all that people didn't have time to help the slower, older, and sicker people in the city. I don't think I could ever imagine myself in that scenario; and, I think, most others can't either. Maybe that's why there was such a panic-rush exodus out of the city.

I just read a report about 300 people that where stranded in a Hilton in downtown New Orleans. If you can find the story, it's amazing. There were some doctors staying in the area for a meeting on AIDS, I believe. After this stuff started happening, they turned the lobby's bar into a triage center. Of course, with no medical supplies, there was little they could do. To three of the four doctors braved the flash floods, looters, and rapists to break into a Walgreens. That is so awesome; that there are at least some people stuck in that city that are able to help.

And then, the peace officers. There was a squad (of probably about 15-20 officers, my guess) that were assigned to guard the convention center. That was their only orders; or, should I say, their last. They could never contact any superiors after recieving these orders.

Of course, many rapists and looters targeted the convention center; because of the sheer amount of refugees staying there. The police, so outnumbered, took shelter, at night, in a small hotel across the street. They actually used a backhoe tractor to block the entrence to their hotel; and even went as far as to put a "Danger: Human Waste Contamination" sign on the door to help ward these people off.

During the days, these officers would raid local stores to get more powerful firearms than their police-issued pistols. They also raided stores for food for themselves, and in some cases, for the children at the convention center. Against department policy, these officers did everything they could to keep themselves, and the refugees safe and relatively comfortable.

This, to me, is straight out of a Stephen King book, called The Stand. Just from the isolated incidents, it's almost amazing how, in our own backyard, we have thousands of people dying because they can't get their medication; medication they could walk down the street to their local pharmacy on any regular day, to get. People are starving, and the lawlessness is becoming legendary.

I've been the New Orleans more than once. My best friend is from New Orleans (although he is stationed elsewhere). I've dated a girl from, or, at least, from near New Orleans. While I wasn't born there, or would never consider it an "adoptive hometown," I do feel some sort of connection with the town. A person can't live with a Cajun, and date a Cajun, and go to a few Mardis Gras without feeling that way.

But what will happen to New Orleans now? Will those Cajuns rebuild? We Americans proved that we are sturdy, that we will rebuild, in the wake of September 11. But so many people have expressed their desire to start over somewhere else; it makes me wonder.

Will New Orleans stay the Big Easy? Or will it be the first modern ghost town? The possible answers frighten me; but I do know what is for certain: Americans will do everything to support those Cajuns, whatever their decisions are.