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Putting my flame retardant suit on...
When hurricane Katrina hit, I cried for those people who died. I cried for those who lost their homes. After 3 weeks, I stopped feeling so sad for them. None of them seemed to be trying to help themselves. They kept waiting on their checks from the gov't. Waitin for the gov't to help them, clothe them, give them food and shelter. No it's not all the govt's fault that it couldn't happen right away. Yes is was the worst storm and hit the poorest areas. BUT no one could prepare for the magnitude of what was fixing to happen.
Even after it hit, people came from all over to help get them out. And how were they repaid?? With bullets flying from the "helpless" victims! New Orleans was hit hardest, but did we forget how bad Mississippi was hit? One of the small towns on the gulf was practically wiped off the map. This storm and the aftermath is the biggest racial issue I have ever seen (before the presidential election). And it is still a big racial issue.
Want to know why I stopped feeling sad for them after a few weeks? Hurricane Rita sent a storm surge up Vermillion Bay. That surge went up enough to devastate my hometown. It covered my family's house with water. My grandparents, 2 sets of aunt & uncles, cousins, friends all lost their homes. My cousin was able to pass by the houses after the storm...in a boat. He could see the roof of the houses. After a week with over 4 feet of water in the home, the mold was up to the ceiling. Every one of the houses down our street had to be torn down (all family). My sister's car was left at the house. It was totaled. It was her Senior year of highschool. She lost all of her clothes (as did my parents). Walking in our home a week after the water went down, seeing all our belongings on the front yard covered in mud (and boy did it stink!). I cried for us.
But guess what. All us Cajuns got together and picked ourselves up. We found places to live. There weren't any FEMA trailers left. Only pop up trailers. You try to fit a family of 6 with 2 dogs in a pop up trailer. Friends north of town helped out, gave clothes and used items. A year to the date after Rita tore our life up, we moved into our brand new home that we built (not in the same location obviously). The insurance companies tried to screw everybody down there. My sister took the ACT the day after the storm. Aced it. Graduated valedictorian of her class the following May. We moved on. We didn't wait on the gov't to help. We got off our ass and did it ourselves.
Why are people still complaining 5 years later about Katrina? Because they refuse to help themselves.
And let the flames begin...
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Re: Putting my flame retardant suit on...
yeah, a little insensitive i would say
but i'm too tired to "flame"
How were they supposed to help themselves? Most didnt have a way out, any home to go back to, no clothing let alone a job.....Again, how can you help yourself in that situation.
Way to start a Monday morning.
*pats you on back* There.
I really don't want to get into it, as its too early on a Monday morning. But I think you're a bit off and misguided in your opinions.
I don't really know what to say. If it weren't for the faulty levee system, they would have been pretty ok.
Some people probably did/are playing the victim card, but I think the fact that the city is rebuilding and the tourism is back up is a sign that they are in fact helping themselves
Did I miss something? Where did this come from?
I'm glad your family was able to rebuild & get back on their feet. The rest of that mess - I'm not touching.
This debate comes on an apt day because my parents' house is currently under hurricane warning.
It's tempting to compare tragedies. Yes, what happened to your family sucks. But what happened to the NO people sucks too. You can all have a difficult time. You are lucky that your family is able to pick up and recover, but some aren't.
Where I grew up there are still ruins from Hurricane Hugo in 1989, so I think New Orleans is doing pretty well.
yep. I really don't know what to say.
I've lived through some horrible huricanes myself. that has made me MORE compassionate for those who go through it, not less.
I don't even believe this post and wish I could back out of it but you are so wrong on so many levels.
Evacuation costs money. 27.9 of the population lives below the poverty line and 27.3 of the population does not own cars. Those that did not have money to evecuate were told they could ride out the storm at the Superdome, where no provision were made for them. And let's not forget how the system completely, 100% let them down. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that 67.3 of the population is African American.
Is this how we are honoring the dead on their annivesary?
Uncommon sense or poverty? Do you know some of these people had already evacuated twice and had no money for a third evacuation?
Also, you cant post something like this and then log off and not respond. Chicken Sh*t
I hadn't noticed. That's okay. She has to log on again at some point.
I also don't think people realize how jaded you can get. When you have multiple threats a year (every one of which is THE hurricane), and haven't had major landfall in a decade, it's hard to take warnings seriously.
DD1 born 5/24/10.
Missed M/C at 14 wks Feb 2012.
DD2 born 5/14/13.
Missed M/C at 9 wks July 2015.
Ok so wait. You stopped feeling badly for them because all the resources were tied up, leaving none for your family? Yes, that sucks for your family but how does that change the fact that these people were in a horrible position too?
And people are still complaining because there are people who still have no place to live. You try barely getting by financially and then having everything you have ripped from you. Not everyone has the means to just start over.
Sorry that I had to pump milk for my child and get work done.
And yes I can post something like that. I still feel compassion for those. I gave blood. I sent money. Some of the money my family got in response for our loss, we sent to NO. Our devastation is not comparable? We lost our home and all our things. Other families who lost helped us out. Galveston was hit worse than us. Southwest LA was ruined.
There were resources to help those people get out. Even if they themselves didn't have a car, there were buses to help them! My father and several others from our area went in boat to help get them out. My cousins in the national guard helped get them out. They helped out in the superdome. They saw the travesties going on in there. We all had compassion.
I am sorry that this happened to them. I know NO is below sea level (I live in LA I am not stupid). It is very easy to see how the ancient levees were not going to hold. The comment I heard on the radio this morning is why havent the projects opened back up. WTF?? Why in the hell would you move back in to an area below sea level where they levees are not fool proof. This is what heated my comment this morning.
Sorry it takes a while before I can comment. I do work and have stuff to do. And I don't feel the need to defend myself. Come to my hometown and ask ANY family who suffered from Hurricane Rita. They will all tell you the same thing I did. And no I don't need a pat on the back.
Wow you are coming off as a complete heartless b*tch right now! I saw the aftermath of Katrina in both NO, and MS, and it was completely devestating to see. I was an Air Force Medic at the time, and we deployed all of our personnel to both locations, and it completely changed me forever. Those people where the poorest of the poor, and had no way to get out. When we walked into the superdome we where stunned at all the people that needed medical help, and couldn't afford it, or get it. We had people that needed medical attention but where affraid that we where going to charge them for our services, and they didn't have a dime to their name. You have to remember that those people came from abesolutely nothing, and there for probably coudn't have helped themselves, and other people spent their life savings trying to get out!
Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter
"><a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"><img border="0" src="http://tickers.myfitnesspal.com/ticker/show/825/1820/8251820.png" /></a><p style="text-align:center;width:420px;"><small>Created by MyFitnessPal - Free <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com">Calorie Counter</a></small></p>I couldnt agree more. Why must everyone else always help those who can but wont do for themselves.
We have Section 8 and EBT in our area and it seems the scum of the earth keeps procreating and sucking my tax dollars away. I know there are some who need it and are decent people down on thier luck but Parolees living at LaFonduhs house with 2 Escalades...obviously not a need for Governement Cheese There!
(sigh)
I get where you're coming from, now take a moment to understand the situation. Most people in New Orleans did not have cars. I know, b/c I'm from New Orleans. Born and raised there. For the people who did have cars, many did not have the money to get out of town. Evacuating costs money. You have to pay for gas, you have to pay for food, and you have to pay for a hotel once you get to a safe area. On top of that, it's not just you that you're responsible for. You've got your husband, kids, mom, dad, brother, sister, neice, nephew, neighbor, etc.
What most people that I've spoken to fail to realize is that going to the Superdome wasn't plan B for most, it was the only plan. DH was an officer in the dome, and he's told me some stories that kept me up at night. Yes, there are some folks that have their hands out, but you know what? Those are the same folks that were like that before Katrina, and they'll be like that until the day they die. To label all victims the way that you did says alot about your character. Trust me, I know first hand how your family felt after losing everything, because I lost everything. My family is back in New Orleans, but DH and I moved to Texas, where we both have been working full time since October 2005. Yes, at first we got help in the form of rental assistance, but when we both got jobs, we paid our own way. When DH got to Texas, all he had with him was the clothes on his back, which was his officer's uniform. He had to accept clothes from strangers, and if that makes him a bad person, so be it.
As far as the crime, honey, crime is everywhere. Katrina did not make crime appear, but I understand that people need someone to point the finger at. There may have been isolated incidents where Katrina evacuees have committed crimes, but to say that all we're all shooting off guns is absurd. Please learn some compassion.
I do agree that after five years, you should be able to move on, but like I said earlier, the people who are still sitting around are the same ones that sat around before Katrina.
We had people stuck in their houses. No one saw the storm surge coming. It was after the hurrican hit. My aunt and uncle had to be rescued off their roof. So did some neighbors.
Our town is still trying to rebuild some areas as well.
We are just tired of seeing how bad Katrina was for NO. It's like Mississippi was just forgotten.
Yes those people who were asking for help needed it. We saw some of the people from NO when they got to Shreveport for evacuation. Getting off the bus with nothing for themselves or their children and asking for cigarettes. Taking their money vouchers to Walmart and getting beer. Not worrying about diapers or clothes. They destroyed a hotel that was open for them. It had to be completey redone inside after the evacuees left. Believe me, there are reasons we are tired of it.
Now I must go do some inspections, so call me chicken *** for not replying right away.
Oh Prego. I like you. But this is pretty bad.
oh wow.
Exactly. If you live on the coast, you make a judgment call and if you have the money to stay somewhere else, you leave. If not, what are you supposed to do? I've been through 3 hurricanes in my lifetime and the two we evacuated for were much smaller than Katrina but we still weren't able to get back to our homes for at least a week b/c sand covered the roads and power lines were down. Thank God we had the money to stay elsewhere.
And in regard to the original post - you make it sound so easy. A lot of these people were poor - they didn't have the means or education to figure out how to get out of poverty but you expect them to be able to figure out how to recover from one of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history??
What about the people like me who work their asses off every day? What about the people who have tried and are still trying to do the right thing? You say you're tired, and I get that, but I'm tired of people like you labeling me, thinking that because I'm from New Orleans, that I'm looking for a handout. My family and I have worked damn hard to rebuild. Have some compassion, woman!
Why not post this and leave it at that? Why bring all the other stuff into it? I get this, but not the broad sweeping horrible generalizations you have made. You are not making yourself look very good here.
Who is LaFonduh?
If I had a $1 for everytime I hear the "on welfare and driving an Escalade comment"....
I love how people take some random example of someone they *think* is receiving gov't assistance and driving an Escalade and use it to condemn the whole system. Here's another hint...the vast majority of your tax dollars aren't going to support the welfare system. There are these things called roads and emergency services and public schools and a national military that eat up most of your taxes. So Parloee living at LaFonduh's house with his escalade really isn't breaking your bank.
Neither is the previous poster who called these people the scum of the earth.
I can't believe that one person thinks like this, let alone have other people who chime in and agree with them.
Agree 100%.
I had family that was effected by hurricane Katrina, let me tell you it wasn't easy to just "help yourself". There was not way to get clothes because there was no stores with clothes,food,water, or basic essentials available seeings how a hurricane just destroyed everything. And even if you had money, there was no way to get it out of the bank because those were also damaged.
I think OP statement is very insensitive and you really nu d to think about what you are saying. I hope you or a loved one never have to experience the helplessness that comes with a natural disaster.
agreed.
The issue is the poor who did not have the means to leave. They were stuck, hot, thirsty, hungry...and when I see footage of their young children lethargic and hungry with no means of relief it breaks my heart.
Well said, and I'm sorry you and your H had to go through that.
Oh, and Prego - wow. I don't even know what to say to that
This is just getting better and better. It WAS bad for NO, so what? I don't think people are discounting the fact that it affected areas other than NO. However, I'd have to guess that NO was/is a major focus since it was such a populated area and displaced so many people. I get that you think that people are not helping themselves get back to normal life after all these years, but there are people who just won't move on and there is nothing you can do about it. Good for your family that they could pick up the pieces, but many families may not whether it is because of their economic status, mental state of mind, or whatever. There will always be people who don't help themselves but unfortunately we have no control over others actions, only our own.
And there were buses and other services provided to help people evacuate. They CHOSE to stay - they honestly get no sympathy from me.
I was going to stay quiet on this, but um...you do understand that we have a "mandatory evacuation" EVERY SINGLE YEAR, right..and nothing happens. It's not like this was even the first threat of the season. It's expensive to evacuate and some people (including my dad) were just tired of leaving for nothing. This just happened to be "the big one". Oh, and by the way, those buses they had in place were so unbelievably disorganized. My dad and stepmom actually got separated in the madness and ended up in two different states. I'm not sure what kind of picture you have in your head about what these bus evacuations looked like, but you're sadly mistaken if you think it was some nice charter bus and there were neat and organized lines of people trying to get in them. Not to mention, they didn't have enough buses until AFTER the storm hit. Gah, and aren't you the one who was on govn't assistance and living with people not too long ago (if not, I apologize..if so, why the hell wouldn't YOU of all people have more compassion???)
I'm sure they weren't counting on the levee to break and flood their neighborhoods. I'd get a flame thrower and burn you to pieces but I'm not in the mood. Just know that I don't agree with you at all and find your statement filled with a lot of ignorance. Not everyone affected by Katrina was on welfare.
I think the Gov. let the people of the affected areas down in this situation...why don't you aim your idiotic statements over in that direction.
Ok. Let's pretend for a minute that there was adequate bussing to get everyone out (which there was not - you are pulling that out of your behind). If you are living in poverty and all your family lives in the general area, once you get on that bus, with what money are you going to use to get a hotel for your family?