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Learning to Care and Take Action

In the first hours after Hurricane Katrina I wasn’t paying much attention. I knew that the hurricane was big. I heard that it caused great damage, but I thought that it would be a hurricane like the three that came through Florida just last year or any other that I have experienced from living in Florida for the past 23 years. I did think that Katrina would be worse due to unpreparedness. I did presume that the flooding would be worse since New Orleans is mostly below sea level. I didn’t think the damage would be this bad. I didn’t think that this many people would be unable to evacuate or simply choose not to evacuate.

In the first few days after Hurricane Katrina I was beginning to take notice. I was catching on to what was going on down there. I started to hear things from friends, people at school, and people at work. I started to look into what was going on in Louisianna and Mississippi. The whole situation was better than I had thought and worse than I had thought. I knew that oil refineries, the shipping industry, well basically a chunk of all the big, hazardous, barely regulated industry of the US of A was going to be leaking into the waters. That water would then make its way into the Gulf of Mexico and be carried down the Gulf coast of Florida. That would mess up the beaches for a few months for sure, but probably a few years.

In the first week after Hurricane Katrina I realized that the people of Louisianna and Mississippi are going to need a lot more help than they seem to be getting. I look around. I call around. I want to help. I talk to Joy about taking a trip up to the area since we had a three day weekend. We might as well give our time and energy to help people who can really use it. Then I found out that in many areas there are crazy things happening. Things aren’t safe for volunteers yet. Volunteer coordinators are trying to go in and are pulling back in fear of hostilities. Lootings and other madness keeps help away. I can’t go and help this weekend, because the situation is so bad that maritial law had been declared in some areas. Police and military police are allowed to shoot looters in certain areas. Areas won’t be ready for volunteer groups until Monday or even Tuesday. At that point I’ll need to attend to my responsibilities. I guess I need to just send money.

Sunday I find out that I can help through my church. Our church is going to take in a large number of refugees from the area. Some people are going to house them. Others will provide meals, transportation, clothing, school supplies, admistrative/coordinating/organizational time and effort, etc etc. Joy offers to volunteer a few weeks of her time as a coordinator/organizer. I talk to Joy about giving up a computer (probably someone lost theirs and could use a new one) school suppplies, and personal items. I should have thought to donate our air mattress.

After doing all these things, thinking about a lot of what has gone on, and having a full range of mixed emotions I have realized a few things. I had been disappointed that I could help more, do more, participate more in helping people recover. I can help, I am helping, and I will help, but I thought I could do more because there is so much need. I realized though, that I have spent much of my life pretty uninterested in helping other people. In fact, it is only recently that events and people in my life have convinced me that helping others is something that I should actively persue. In so much of life you need to start out small and grow. I should have realized that giving of my time, my money, and my possessions would also start out small. Fortunately, once these small things get started… they have a tendency to grow

Posted by David under Lessons Learned |