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Inspirational
Perspectives of a Katrina Storm Victim by Wayne D.
Carriere
Wayne D. Carriere’s
book, “Inspirational Perspectives of a Katrina
Storm Victim,” is one of the most
inspirational and uplifting books written about the
Hurricane Katrina experience. In fact, it is one of
the most inspiring and uplifting human stories that
we’ve read.
The
book is unique because Wayne Carriere consistently
finds the silver lining in one of the greatest
disasters of our lifetime. When you think about the
human devastation caused by hurrican Katrina it is
difficult to consistently find strength to overcome
the tremendous loss, particularly if you lived
through the hurricane to tell your story.
Carriere’s writing style compartmentalizes his
recollections of the disaster into small "teachable
moments" and churns out a series of heartwarming
stories.
Through his book, Wayne takes the reader with him as
he and his family prepared for the hurricane,
survived the hurricane and traveled to several
shelters in search of family members. Along the way
he met strangers who helped him. To his credit
Wayne acknowledges many of those people and
organizations who helped him and others throughout
the disaster.
How
do consistently find the positive from the worst
disasters in the history of this country without
God? God is central throughout this book. At its
core, this is one man’s story of faith and God how
he not only survived, but also
thrived after hurricane
Katrina.
Wayne Carriere’s jarring
recollections of Katrina were written in a manner
that added context for those of us who only
experienced the disaster vicariously through the
media. The book has several themes analogous to
living your best life such as faith in God, a sense
of community and caring for your friends, strangers
and neighbors. These are values that used to be
common in our community that only seem to come out
when there is a catastrophe or disaster.
In
his own way, Wayne Carriere puts the events of
Hurricane Katrina into a perspective that you can
process. The devastation and incompetence of the
government was of such magnitude that it was
difficult for many people to comprehend. Carriere
breaks it down like a math teacher. He explains
each component to help us relive this tragedy and
process the learnings, which was what he and others
had to do if they were to move on with their lives.
The
book is full of positive affirmations that serve as
a great reminder of what we can all do to improve
our circumstances. After reading this book, most
people will STOP complaining about that they say are
“bad days.”
In
the end, Wayne Carriere assesses his losses and
calculates his gains in the following manner:
“My family and friends are still here, which
means we can move forward and impact lives.’’
Carriere later writes: “…I have gained a
stronger relationship with our Heavenly Father, and
that’s something I don’t ever want to lose. This
event has brought me closer to Him, and I have no
desire to stray.”
You don’t have to survive a
hurricane to identify with this book. The lessons
are universal to those who suffer tragedies. No
matter the tragedy, we can always find something
better.
About the Author
Wayne D. Carriere was born in
New Orleans, Louisiana on April 5, 1963, in Charity
Hospital. Wayne has lived with his girlfriend and
son in Thibodaux, Louisiana since the hurricane. He
was raised in the Catholic faith and has attended
Catholic private schools throughout his scholastic
life. He graduated from Corpus Christi Elementary
School, St. Augustine High School, and Loyola
University in New Orleans.
Click here to buy this heartwarming and
inspirational book by Wayne D. Carriere.
This book was reviewed by
Gary A. Johnson and posted
March 30, 2007.
So
what do you think? If you would like to respond to
this article
click here and sign our
Guestbook to leave
a public or private statement, comment or reaction.
Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke: A
Requiem in Four Acts"
By Gary
A. Johnson
Here it is, the day after
watching Spike Lee's third feature-length
collaboration with HBO. I feel as if I’ve been on
an emotional rollercoaster for the past two days. I
watched all of the Katrina coverage as it unfolded
at the time. However, to see this human tragedy
bundled into four acts is both powerful and
heartbreaking.
This is a difficult story to
tell. I think Spike Lee did a masterful job. This
was not a movie about Spike. It was a movie about
the people. I’ve traveled to New Orleans on both
business and vacation several times over the past 15
years. I had some sense of the people and the
culture. For viewers who have not been to New
Orleans, Spike Lee gave you a sense of the rich
history and culture of New Orleans by letting the
people tell their stories. This documentary is more
personal that political and that’s what makes it
work.
Lee and his team selected a
very ethnically diverse group of people representing
a wide range of opinions to interview, including
Governor Kathleen Blanco; Mayor Ray Nagin; residents
Kimberly Polk, Shelton "Shakespeare" Alexander and
Rev. Williams; activists Al Sharpton and Harry
Belafonte; CNN's Soledad O'Brien; and musicians
Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard and Kanye West.
A number of the people interviewed were respected
experts in their fields.
Out of all the people
featured, the “star” of the film for me, (if there
is such a thing as a “star” in this context) was New
Orleans resident Phyllis Montana LeBlanc. If I ever
see this sister, I’m going to give her a long
heartfelt hug. Phyllis LeBlanc was raw, honest and
compassionate as she shared her story of this
disaster and how it affected her and her family.
For those of you who are not sure who I’m talking
about, Phyllis was the sister who threatened to whip
a Security Officer’s ass who she felt was
insensitive and harassing by asking her (LeBlanc) a
string of security questions after being rescued as
she was trying to board a plane out of New Orleans.
I sat on my sofa, riveted to
the screen. I could not turn away. I felt anger,
hurt, pain, despair and triumph—within a two-hour
period. There were many heroes and compelling
stories that were told, but the images and the
personal stories “make” this film.
How powerful were the images?
Remember the photos and footage of Condoleeza Rice
buying Ferragamo shoes on Madison Avenue in New York
and then going to see a play while New Orleans was
flooding? Or how about the photos of President Bush
doing a “flyover” of the city in Air Force One,
instead of seeing the devastation firsthand on the
ground, like he did at the World Trade Center site.
How about the images of Vice President Dick Cheney
fly-fishing?
Bush returned to New Orleans
and touched the soil 12 days later and that was
after enormous public pressure from around the world
to do something about the colossal failure of the
government.
The resolve of the people who
want to come back and rebuild their city is
heartfelt. The failure of the government was worse
than what I think most people remember or could
imagine.
Tears rolled down my face as I
saw families being separated like slaves on an
auction block. People were directed by armed
officers to get on buses and planes with no
information about where they were going. The site
of mothers being separated from their children was
heart wrenching. God bless the people in the
various states who accepted their new neighbors had
helped them transition. Can you imagine living in
New Orleans your entire life, surviving Katrina,
being separated from your family and being sent to
Utah? Don’t get me started.
Lee’s documentary also pointed
out a fact that should not go unnoticed. In an
interview with HBO Lee was quoted as saying, “One
of the significant things about the title is that
most people think that it was Katrina that brought
about the devastation to New Orleans. But it was a
breaching of the levees that put 80 percent of the
city under water. It was not the hurricane. And
last week the United States Army Corps of Generals
went on record and finally 'fessed up, and said that
we fucked up.”
Spike Lee said the following
about his film:
“One of the things I hope
this documentary does is remind Americans that New
Orleans is not over with, it's not done. Americans
responded in record numbers to help the people of
the Gulf Coast, but let's be honest. Americans have
very, very short attention spans. And, I'll admit
there was eventually a thing called Katrina fatigue.
But if you go to New Orleans, only one-fourth of the
population is there. People are still not home. So
hopefully, this documentary will bring this fiasco,
this travesty, back to the attention of the American
people. And maybe the public can get some
politicians' ass in the government to move quicker,
and be more efficient in helping our fellow American
citizens in the Gulf region.”
If you have not seen this
documentary, I would urge you to see it. For me,
this was a difficult film to watch, but it is a
“must see” piece of work.
This commentary was posted on August 23, 2006.
Mayor Nagin and the Politics of
Hurricane Katrina
During the August 27, 2006 episode of the
newsmagazine show "60 Minutes," the correspondent
asked New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin why deluge-damaged
cars even now litter the streets of
New Orleans,
a year after Katrina's floodwaters swamped the city.
Nagin replied, "You guys in
New York
can't get a hole in the ground fixed, and it's five
years later. So let's be fair."
All of the stories that I
have read have excoriated the Mayor for his
comments, by saying that they were either
politically incorrect or lacked tact. In the actual
interview, right before mayor makes the
aforementioned comments, the reporter questions the
alacrity of the Mayor’s rebuilding plan, and then
Mayor Nagin makes his comments. Most New Yorkers
were outraged at the Mayor’s remarks, especially
with the outpouring of philanthropy and altruism
that they gave
New Orleans’s
during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Personally, I think that his comments were true; his
critics have taken them out of context. Mayor Nagin
was simply referring to the fact that it is
bureaucracy. That is slowing down the rebuilding
process in
New Orleans and
New York.
Nagin has rightfully
charged the government with imposing tedious
application procedures on Katrina survivors applying
for rebuilding assistance.
For example,
Mississippi
residents started receiving government rebuilding
assistance checks last month, but the residents in
Louisiana will
have to wait longer, because Governor Blanco has
increased the red tape around the application
process in order to persuade residents to
reconstruct their homes and lives in
Louisiana.
This process has
slowed the payment of funds to Katrina’s victims.
There is a
misconception that
New Orleans
has an abundance of money. The truth is that
New Orleans
is struggling economically, in spite of billions of
dollars in congressional aid. The city is in
operating on an estimated 1/4 of the revenue it held
before Katrina because of the loss of citizens and
merchants. One question that I have about the
Katrina recovery is why was an overwhelming majority
of the reconstruction contracts awarded without
competitive bids? Why weren’t minorities included in
this process or awarded a decent amount of
contracts?
By reporting the
linguistic mishaps of Mayor Nagin, I think the media
is focusing in on the wrong story. Do you know what
they should be focusing on? Well, over the next two
weeks we will celebrate two of the most difficult
historic anniversaries in recent memory. With these
two anniversaries, the political stakes are high,
with the anniversary of 9-11 aiding Bush and the
GOP, and Hurricane Katrina helping the Democrats. It
is a shame that these tragic events will be used as
political pawns in the upcoming elections across the
country. What does this say about as Americans?
Let’s not forget about the
incidents of unadulterated racism that occurred
during Hurricane Katrina. Remember the incident in
Gretna,
Louisiana
where the police turned back desperate Katrina
evacuee’s at gunpoint? The cities’ officials swore
that the incident was not racially motivated and
posited that they did not have the supplies to deal
with the influx of evacuees. That is the most
risible excuse that I have ever heard. The truth is
that prior to the incident they stereotyped them as
criminals and soulless cretins. In this case, they
equated black with criminal. If they had been white,
the officials of
Gretna
would have welcomed them with open arms; no
questions asked and would have provided them with
whatever they needed.
Lately, I have been
reading about a increasing number of columnists and
political analyst attempting to juxtapose how
Rudolph Giuliani and Ray Nagin handled their
particular crisis. In my opinion Mr. Giuliani had
more to work with, because he had the full support
and financial backing of the President from the
onset of the 9-11 crises. Also, with Hurricane
Katrina, the President had advanced warning of the
impending catastrophe, and yet he did nothing.
Nothing!
It is disheartening for me
to see the media using their considerable power and
resources to focus in on a statement that was
clearly taken out of context. I see Nagin as an
iconoclastic visionary, who uses his position to
effectuate change, without regard to whether or not
he will be vilified in the press. Even though I am
defending the Mayor and his comment, as a piece of
advice, Mayor Nagin, think about what your say
before you say it and remember that your words can
be misconstrued and used to impede your progress.
Matthew Lynch is an Exceptional Education Teacher at
Sykes
Elementary School,
CEO of
Lynch Consulting Group, LLC,
and a Doctoral Candidate at
Jackson State
Mississippi.
He is also the author of
Closing the Racial Academic Achievement Gap,
and a children’s book, entitled
Matthew and the Money Tree.
Mr. Lynch is a contributing columnist for My Brotha
Magazine, Renaissance Man Magazine, and Emerging
Minds. Born and raised in
Mississippi, he
currently resides in
Jackson,
Mississippi.
Matthew Lynch is an Exceptional Education Teacher at
Sykes Elementary School, CEO of
Lynch
Consulting Group, LLC, and a Doctoral Candidate at
Jackson State Mississippi. He is also the author of
Closing the
Racial Academic Achievement Gap, and an
upcoming children’s book, entitled
Matthew and
the Money Tree. Mr. Lynch is a contributing
columnist for The Black Suburban Journal, Blagazine, and
Emerging Minds. Born and raised in
Mississippi, he currently resides in Jackson, Mississippi.
So
what do you think? If you would like to respond to this
article
click here and sign our
Guestbook to leave a public or private statement, comment or
reaction.
Ray Nagin
Hurricane Katrina
Information
One way we
are helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina is by making a
financial gift to a legitimate charity or
you can donate to help people through this web site. All of the money
donated through this web site will go directly to the American
Red Cross. However, there are other reputable organizations across the
country that you can support. We are encouraging everyone
who can help to do so. No amount of money is too small.
Please give what you can to help the people in need.
You can also donate money to:
Katrina Information Network
Donate: Salvation Army
Adventist Community Services
1-800-381-7171
www.adventist.communityservices.org
America's Second Harvest
1-800-344-8070
www.secondharvest.org
Catholic Charities, USA
703 549-1390
www.catholiccharitiesusa.org
Christian Disaster Response
941-956-5183 or 941-551-9554
www.cdresponse.org
Southern Baptist Convention
1-800-462-8657, ext. 6440
www.sbc.net
United Methodist Committee on Relief
1-800-554-8583
gbgm-umc.org/umcor
If you have any questions
amount the management of this fund e-mail us at
webmaster@blackmeninamerica.com.
Thank you.
Gary
A. Johnson
Founder and Publisher,
Black Men In America.com
Katrina
Related Commentary
Was
The Destruction in New Orleans a Divine Intervention?
By Mike
McKoy
I have a
neighbor that told me over the pass few weeks how disgusted
she was when living in New Orleans. She told me that in her
fifteen years of living there that the city had become more
and more decadent. When she first moved there the city was
thriving with different cultures but as time moved on she
noticed that the city became more and more unsettling.
She said
it wasn't uncommon to see prostitutes, male and female,
walking down the streets in broad daylight. On any given day
she also said it was common for her to see people having sex
with each other in back alleys as she walked to the bus
stop.
My former
roommate, Ace, lost all of his brothers to murder in the
three year span we were roommates. Each time the suspect
was never identified or caught. The city had a higher rate
of unsolved murders then a few third world countries. His
mother actually lived in the only apartment in a high-rise
building that wasn’t condemned. There were no streetlights
as they were all shot out and the place ran afoul with
insects.
Thinking
back I remember seeing corruption myself whenever I visited
the city. I guess at the time I was so young that I didn't
care or realize what I was looking at. Patrolling officers
in the more dangerous sections wore jeans, running shoes and
had two side arms. Two guns and running shoes? I remember
that at every Mardi Gras I attended it wasn't uncommon to
see uniformed police officers sipping alcohol in cups along
with the rest of the partying crowd.
Now in
two hundred years of this countries existence every major
hurricane has skirted New Orleans and hit in other areas
along the gulf coast. Hurricane Katrina actually did
something very strange. It first hit Florida and it was
thought it would go north along the east coast. However, it
moved east into the Atlantic Ocean and amazing turned in a
circle heading back over Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico
where it stood still and gathered strength. Then once it
reaches Category 5 status it barreled right over New
Orleans.
Usually
scientists can predict the path of hurricanes with some
certainty. They don't know exactly where it will hit but
they can predict the hit within an area of a few hundred
miles. Katrina however did things never before seen in the
meteorological world and seemed to defy all logical
reasoning.
New
Orleans will never be the same as it was. The money being
sunk into the city will most certainly re-vitalize it but in
a new way. Hundreds of thousands of New Orleans citizens
that made the city what it was have resettled across the
country to start their lives anew (think the tower of
Babel?). 1/4 of the police force quit for one reason or
another (many point out that only the most loyal and
dedicated stayed to protect the city). Once the city was
flooded with Federal Troops and out of state police officers
it was said that many of the hardest criminal elements had
evacuated to other states along with the rest of the city.
Is this
evidence of divine intervention in a city plagued with
murder, decadent sex, and poverty? Or was it just a natural
disaster that could have happened at anytime?
I'm
just thinking outside of the box.
K-Storm
The Konservative Hurricane by
Elton Wheeler
You know Apartheid is wrong
Like Slavery was wrong
Like the Holocaust was wrong
Apartheid is wrong.
Stevie
Wonder It’s Wrong, In Square Circle
How symbolic a named K-storm caused so much death and
destruction on an American city sixty percent black
during dry times but likely ninety-five percent black
when Katrina rolled ashore. The chaos that followed
confounded the good people of this country that believe
we should have a minimum amount of compassion for all
United States citizens. Yet there is a distinct
disingenuousness with being ‘surprised’, knowing some
republican conservatives have carefully implemented a
strategy to reclaim the racists glory days of old.
For African-Americans, K-storm stricken New Orleans
represents a present that is the most recent part of a
very disturbing past, a past that is both revered and
ignored by a solid plurality within the political
right. There are three constituent pillars supporting
contemporary republican politics– the Fiscal
Conservative; mostly good folk concerned with government
spending, the Social Conservative; mostly good folk
concerned with declining cultural mores, and the peg-leg
of the political right’s tripod, the Racist Konservative.
As a country we can no longer pretend they are not among
us for we all know people – Kousins, Ko-workers or
Kolleagues – that are selectively overt in exhibiting
their deep and abiding hatred.
Harking back to a time when un-prosecuted lynching and
murder were common and now with bigotry being given a
pass (“Oh, that’s just his way” or “Yeah, but she’s
really harmless”), the racists are emboldened by a
natural ally in pursuit of the ‘America that once was’
and ‘The way things ought to be’. That natural ally is
the Republican Party where racists have coalesced and
provided President Bush his most stable base. Catering
to that base is best illustrated when Bush challenged
the Michigan University use of affirmative action for
law student admissions. He filed his brief to Supreme
Court on January 15th 2003, Martin Luther
King’s birthday! - an intentional slap in the face of
every African American and a show of solidarity with the
Konservatives.
Pandering to the racist Konservative flank of the
Republican Party faithful is the only reason one can
imagine President Bush flying over and witnessing the
destruction in the Southern Gulf Region on Tuesday, when
he cut short his six-week vacation by two days, and not
realize that action in the form of food and water was
urgently needed even if the poor blacks and other
under-privileged folks were not his core voters.
Political gamesmanship lost all relevance by the time
President Bush ate his cake on Thursday, being replaced
by an astonishing neglect and indifference that was
quite simply Antoinettean.
When a concerned Bush confidently uttered, “On my order,”
the Iraqi war started with ‘Shock and Awe.’ Where was
the order to ‘Save and Assist’ New Orleans?
The K-storm’s symbolism has historical connections that
terrified American Slaves and the so-titled Negro that
endured a sort of purgatory between the modestly useful
Civil War-delivered emancipation and the dangerous march
for civil rights one hundred years later. After the
1965 Civil Rights Act the racists were briefly homeless,
finding diminishing solace within the Democratic Party,
before the party of Abraham Lincoln, The Great
Emancipator, developed their now famous ‘Southern
Strategy’. Lofty political idealism aside, the
distilled result of this plan was to mobilize, cuddle
and excite the racists not only in the South, but across
the nation.
The Konservatives fight only for the rights of whites.
Their republican organizations, such as the CEO (Center
for Equal Opportunity), spend millions of dollars
sifting through a sandy beach of traditional racism
determined to find the few pebbles where perhaps a white
person has lost out in job competition to a black or
other under-privileged. They self righteously proclaim
that what they are doing is not racism – they say it is
merely opposing quotas and challenging the
constitutionality of affirmative-action. This
investment has helped congregate most all racists with
the Konservatives, who along with good-hearted,
well-meaning conservatives form an almost unbeatable
Electoral cabal.
As the black person ‘looted’ and the white person ‘found’
life-sustaining provisions, Katrina’s aftermath
manifested the symbiotic relationship between blacks and
whites in America: No matter how bad things might get,
if you are white, you are always better than a black
person; and no matter how good things may be now, if you
are black, you understand all is predicated on white
acceptance. Rocking the boat could cast a black person
over the side into the charnel, similar to the stagnant
waters which sat putrid in the ‘Big Easy’. This reality
has spurred the ‘creative design’ of a new, fancier
breed of black intellect personified by Klarence Thomas,
Kondoleeza Rice and Ward Konnerly. Lacking self-respect
by not possessing one shred of deference for their
African-American heritage, they love America and ignore
a past that adversely affected them and their family.
While the Confederate legacy is valued as part of the
heritage of some, the victims of the Konfederacy are
forgotten. Some of the enlightened sons and daughters
of the confederacy tell of the white hood and robe that
still hangs in the back closet – a physical reminder of
the not-to-distant past.
The sea of black faces seen suffering in New Orleans is a
symbol of suffering endured by their antecedents, people
first on these shores around 1615. Yet as we approach
the half-millennium milestone, Hurricane Katrina has
illumed the fact that there are only scarce and marginal
improvements for the Africa-American masses. Katrina
has come and gone leaving in her wake an instantaneous
devastation on the region’s poor, mostly black people
left there to endure it’s wrath, however the insidious
K-storm swirling over America for the past 500 years is
as strong as any from Hurican, the Carib
God, as it is fueled by the historical and uniquely
American acronym:
Kruel, Kallous Konservatives.
SHOOT ON SIGHT? By Alicia
Clark
Special
to Black Men In America.com
I am writing about an incident that occurred at the campus
fitness center of my college located in Peoria, IL. I
headed over to the exercise equipment with CD player and
headphones on to begin my aerobic exercise. As I
approached, I encountered three white men who I assume were
professors.
I began
my workout, turning my attention to what was playing on the
television. There was a man to my left. When assured that
I was not paying him any attention, he leaned to his
friend. That was the point where I turned down my CD
player, and began to listen to what he had to say.
He began
by asking his friends if they had read the article in the
Peoria Journal Star, by the Black reporter, about
the hurricane victims in New Orleans. The middle gentleman
acknowledged that he had read the article and enjoyed it.
The gentleman to my immediate left proceeded to say this
Black reporter was trying to justify the stealing of the
looters. His comment was that he wished the troops had
arrived sooner, and that anyone caught stealing “ANYTHING”
had been shot on sight.
I felt
like a force was compelling me to speak, and not let these,
seemingly intelligent men remain in this state of ignorance
another moment. I turned to the man and repeated his words,
“Shoot them on sight,” I said. Then, I questioned him using
those exact words again, “Shoot them on sight?” He looked
stunned to see me speaking to him, apparently shocked that I
had heard his words. “You want to shoot people that have no
food, no water, no where to lay their heads?”
He
countered with the fact that he saw a young man stealing a
TV, and others with jewelry. “You saw a young man stealing
a TV that was probably waterlogged and not working.
However, had it worked, where would he have put it? He had
no home and no electricity, and if he had intentions of
selling it, people in the same plight surrounded him. In
essence, it was useless.” I told him that he probably
pushed the cart around, realized its uselessness, and
abandoned it. I reminded him that they couldn’t eat the
jewelry. Therefore, it was as useless as the TV. I
mentioned that he should feel sorry for a person that
doesn’t know in a time of crisis that food is most
important. I reminded him that he didn’t feel that way, he
wanted to “shoot them on sight.” I also mentioned that I
saw the footage of people looting in Walmart, but in the
scheme of things, it was rather insignificant. I askedhim:
“If you are seeing 100,000 people dying, is saving the
property of Walmart a paramount concern? I told him that I
was sure that Walmart had insurance, so they would be losing
nothing. Walmart makes approximately 256 billion dollars
annually, and therefore if the “looters” took everything in
the store, it wouldn’t make a ripple in Walmart’s revenue.
He
mentioned more acts that outraged him. I found it
interesting that he had the luxury of seeing this situation
so clearly from the vantage point of an exercise machine, in
front of a TV screen, and make moral judgements about people
that are trying to survive. I mentioned the woman’s baby
that died on the bridge as she waited for help.
I agreed
with him on his statement about the troops. They should
have been there sooner, with food, water, and other
necessities of life. I told him that I could not understand
the heart of a person that could watch human suffering, and
only think to kill the sufferers.
The man
to the far left exited the gym, but the man nearest to him
remained, and began to echo my sentiments. He mentioned
that he looked into the faces of those people, and his heart
went out to them. As I listened to him sharing his
feelings, I wondered why it took me to get him to say those
things in front of his friend? The other gentleman, not to
be dissuaded from his stance, said, “The media is showing
them stealing.” I noticed that CNN was scanning the crowd
in front of the New Orleans Convention Center, and showing
the 25,000 people. “Look at them,” I said. What do you
see? I see a different picture than the one you are
painting. You choose to see people stealing.” “But, what
else do you see?” He looked baffled. “What I see, is 25,000
people and children, who are tired, hungry, and thirsty,
pleading for help, but they aren’t fighting, rioting, or
stealing.” I mentioned the 100,000 other displaced people,
scattered around New Orleans that were also not stealing,
but he chose to concentrate on the handful that were. I
told him that he saw exactly what he wanted to see. I
noticed that the next gentleman begin to leave.
He
continued alone, saying, “You must have a sense of right and
wrong, “and I assured him that I was aware of that, but he
had to be reasonable. Then, it came to me. “Remember the
Donner Party?” “These were people who had probably never
entertained the thought of eating another human being, but
when they found themselves stranded, with no relief in
sight, it became a matter of survival, and they became
cannibals, in an effort to survive.”
I told
him that when survival is at stake, none of us could say
what we would do. I told him that for days I had listened
to countless people around Peoria saying that they had no
sympathy for those people, saying that they should have
evacuated, and since they “chose” to st |
