I feel sorry for the people in Houston, Galveston, Beaumont and any other city being ravaged by Hurricane Ike. Having recently come out of a shelter for Hurricane Gustav, I know how it feels to be displaced due to a storm like this. However, I’m still baffled by some action, or lack thereof, by the people in these areas.

I think if we learned anything from Katrina, and the people in the Gulf Coast region exercised this knowledge two weeks ago, we should have learned to evacuate when a hurricane is on the way. According to some reports, as many as 100,000 people didn’t leave Houston.

I don’t really want to come down too hard on them because we don’t know how they are doing at the present time and we don’t really know there circumstances for staying. I just wish things could have worked out better so they would have been able to leave.

I, like the rest of the world, will be watching this situations with hopes of things turning out as good as possible for the Texas residents.

One thing to note is the fact that this hurricane went through Houston.  Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans “Opened the doors to the city” for Texas residents.  The ironic, and sad, thing is the fact that some of those residents moved to Texas from New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina.  Now, they could be on the move again and possibly back home to New Orleans.

I have already said a prayer for them.  This is pretty sad.

As you read this, we need your prayers, well wishes and positive thoughts. Yes, we live in Mississippi, on the Gulf Coast, and Gustav is coming at us. I’m writing this on Saturday because I don’t know when I will be able to write anything again.  While that may sound bad, we have to prepare for the worst because people died last time hurricane (Katrina) preparation was taken lightly.

I think the worst part about this whole thing for me is I have to take my two-week old daughter and wife to my sister’s house; my job forces me to shelter unless the hurricane is a 4 or higher.  Being away from them is going to be torture, but I must be smart and cautious with their safety.  Man, I’m going to miss them while we are apart.

As of Friday, the preparations on the Gulf Coast seemed to be minimal.  I saw one building being boarded up and that was basically it.  Wouldn’t you think more would be going on after what happened with Katrina?  I wasn’t here then, but I would have thought people would have been moving about getting ready with a little more urgency.  I was able to go into the grocery store and get supplies easily - traffic in the store was normal.  I found this odd.

When I woke up this morning (Saturday) Gustav had gained a little steam.  I’m hoping it turns left/west.  I don’t want to wish something like this on anyone, but the people of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans haven’t nearly recovered from Katrina.

Damage from Katrina is still easy to see both physically and emotionally.  Buildings and businesses are just starting to really come back strong, but it will still take years to get things back to what they used to be.  If you didn’t know, this is really a nice place to be, minus hurricane season.  Within the last month there was a ground-breaking for a new plaza that really had local residents upbeat about the future.  Now this.  I have mentioned the emotional tone in previous posts, but to talk to someone who was here during the last storm is something else.  I just found out this week that a co-worker lost everything in the storm; I have been working with her for almost a year and never knew.  On the other hand, some people will make that part of their introduction (I’m exaggerating slightly).

I’m worried for the safety of my family and feel sorry for those going through this again.  Think about us…pray for us.

What is it with us and negative historical events?

For some twisted, sadistic, reason our country enjoys basking in negative events and treats them with some sick reverence. I don’t mean to minimize certain tragedies, but America has this infatuation with using these events to profit, as a crutch, as a time reference or to create a buzz. You may be wondering where this is coming from and I am more than happy to explain.

The Profit

I was just watching TV and a commercial came on for some kind of silver $20 bar - similar to a commorative coin set or something. The value of this bar is $20, so instead of having $20 on it, they had what adds up to $20: “9″ and “11.” According to the commercial, this bar has been produced like this to commemorate the 7th anniversary of 9/11. Did I miss something and a 7th anniversary means something special? 30 years from now will we pull out a silver bar and tell our great-grandchildren that we have this keepsake to let us remember what 9/11 felt like? Stupid.

Don’t get me wrong and think I’m not patrotic or I don’t care about those impacted (all of us). I think something this monumentally tragic shouldn’t be made to feel special. I especially feel this way with our young men and women fighting abroad while some company is pushing a silver bar. Good job. We need to remember this incident was more than a way to make money. This event changed our lives forever and there is still someone out there with a debt to pay for it.

The Crutch

How many of you have heard something like, “Since 9/11……” You can fill in the blank with “I didn’t do this”, “Such and such hasn’t been the same” or whatever someone can think up. Why do we have to use this as a crutch and associate it with things that don’t even have anything to do with it? It is a big fat cop out and we need to re-evaluate or moral system and do better. Yes, it is an issue of morals to me. If your dog died because you let him off his leash and he got hit by a truck, don’t go telling your neighbor, “Traffic hasn’t been the same in the neighborhood since 9/11.” All the ills of our society have not been caused by 9/11!

The Time Reference and Buzz

I currently live in Mississippi and the other day someone asked me how long I’ve been here. When I told them the response was, “So you got here after Katrina.” While I don’t think it is horrible, can’t we use something different as a reference point for time? It says something about what is at the forefront of people’s minds. To make matters even worse, hurricane season is now sensationalized.

I wish you could all see a weather forcast or just have casual conversation with someone from this area. Hurricanes are nothing to play with - Katrina made this obvious. But they aren’t anything to get excited about (in a good way) either. If I didn’t know any better, from listening to some people around here I would think Hurricane season was some great big party from June to November each year. I’m all for giving the season the respect it is due and planning accordingly, but it isn’t something to look forward to.

The Solution

The solution is simple: we must remember past events, but keep them in perspective. I could make excuses because of the color of my skin, the fact that I’m a male, the small town I’m from, how much money we had growing up or anything else I can imagine. But when it boils all down to it we have to do what it is we do to move on - pray, mourn, grieve, etc. - for our own good. I’m not saying we should forget, I’m just saying we have complicated things in life so much so that we can’t afford to be marking time and using these things as we wish/out of context.