What's the Point?

Now that I am reasonably sure that our house has not been destroyed, the reality of our personal situation is starting to set in. Worrying about our house is pointless, but I need some place to call home.

The people still left in New Orleans are enduring uspeakable horror right now, that's for sure. But most of the people affected by this disaster are a lot like me -- regular people who had the means and the good sense to evacuate when we were told, and are now faced with the idea of going back and picking up the pieces of our lives. There are probably over a million refugees like myself spread all over the South mostly, who are counting on our friends and family to help us out until we can get back on our feet. It will be harder for some than others.

In case any of my friends and relatives didn't see it, CNN showed this blog on tv yesterday at about 3:10 Central Time. (Yes, I saw it with my own eyes! My sister's living room and front porch are now famous). CNN was talking about people who had evacuated and were worried that they had nothing to come back to. They also displayed a couple of the photos of the kids. It was quite a rush to see my own words on the screen on national television and to hear them use my name. I know CNN is reading this, so hey there CNN folks, would you mind sending a camera over to my house today to check it out just to make sure?

The more I learn, the more I think we got really lucky regarding the condition of our house compared to most people in the area, but unfortunately, the house itself is not a home. Our home is the whole community. So the house is probably fine, so what? What do we really have to go back to? The community is paralyzed by chaos and anarchy right now - at least it is over in the toxic wasteland where hubby works (worked). And even in sleepy little Slidell, we won't have school for the kids or a jobs for a long time. We're worried about the criminals too, and we may have to physically defend our homes against them. I'm actually glad that the bridge is out between Slidell and the big city. It will make it that much more difficult for them to get to us (not that we don't have criminals in Slidell, but it's a much different picture.)

Speaking of defending ourselves, my sister gave me and my husband a little gift this morning -- our own personal can of military strength tear gas. Wasn't that thoughtful of her?! We are one of the few families in Louisiana who don't own a gun (three small children in our house you know), so she got this for us to defend ourselves. I guess it's better than nothing. Our two silly dogs sure aren't going to defend us. I wonder if Sis would loan me her Rottweiler?

After seeing what is going on in the city regarding the rioting and looting (which hubby and I both predicted would happen long before the word "hurricane" was even mentioned), I am completely and utterly embarrased to call myself an American or even a human being right now. The death and destruction is even more sickening.

Hubby talked to a friend of a collegue night who is still in the city at Tulane's campus. He says that out the window in the Uptown area of town (the only part still on dry land), they can see gangs of looters going systematiclly from house to house and breaking in to steal things. Note to my friend Devra: you might want to let G know about this to prepare him for the possibility that his nice house in Uptown may be dry, but it's probably been looted by now.

I saw the following at Instapundit. It's an amazing first hand account from Bill Quigley, a law professor at Loyola who is in New Orleans now. He says:

"So it is really a disaster, and the people who aren't in New Orleans, I know, are dying to get back to their houses. But the people who are in New Orleans are, in all honesty, dying, and there could be a lot more casualties unless there's a lot of help real fast."

Even if my home turns out all right, the rest of the situation still looks bleak. It's frightening and discouraging to say the least.