August 29, sixteen years to the day after Katrina dropped in on New Orleans; Ida has Grand Isle (to the west) in the crosshairs. That will put the Big Easy on the ‘Dirty Side’ (more wind/surge/rain). In ’95 the ‘Eye’ went to the Mississippi coast and N.O. dodged that bullet, not that it helped but you never know, maybe it could have been worse. They are predicting landfall this afternoon. I’m afraid it will be flashlights and generators in south ‘Weeziana’ tonight.
I could spin off on environmental issues but I won’t. Name calling and pointing fingers may vent anxiety but the kind of change required to resolve manmade climate issues will call for much umbrage and and even more time. I watched a two hour episode of the Ken Burns series on World War Two last night. I’ve seen it several times but some of the visuals and their stories bear watching again. He chronicled the war through four towns; in Minnesota, Alabama, Connecticut and California. It began with young men who went off to war and loved ones left behind, it looked at cities with wartime industry, workers who relocated to fill the wartime job slots. Racism softened, at least for a while. The story Burns offered up was complicated and overlapping. I’ll not rehash the program but I was reminded that war is not and has never been a noble endeavor. It is a ruthless, gruesome struggle with young men following orders, killing each other in the name of God or country, and where innocent bystanders die grizzly deaths for simply being in harms way, where human suffering is the rule. Leaders and profiteers would paint it otherwise but their cause is the universal constant; ‘To the winner go the spoils.’
I could spin off on environmental issues but I won’t. Name calling and pointing fingers may vent anxiety but the kind of change required to resolve manmade climate issues will call for much umbrage and and even more time. I watched a two hour episode of the Ken Burns series on World War Two last night. I’ve seen it several times but some of the visuals and their stories bear watching again. He chronicled the war through four towns; in Minnesota, Alabama, Connecticut and California. It began with young men who went off to war and loved ones left behind, it looked at cities with wartime industry, workers who relocated to fill the wartime job slots. Racism softened, at least for a while. The story Burns offered up was complicated and overlapping. I’ll not rehash the program but I was reminded that war is not and has never been a noble endeavor. It is a ruthless, gruesome struggle with young men following orders, killing each other in the name of God or country, and where innocent bystanders die grizzly deaths for simply being in harms way, where human suffering is the rule. Leaders and profiteers would paint it otherwise but their cause is the universal constant; ‘To the winner go the spoils.’
The segue back to hurricanes and Ida in particular is that by war or natural disaster, people are resilient. Whatever horror we encounter, life looks to the future rather than dwell on the past. This is cliché I know and I don’t like clichés but long suffering, partisan bloodshed is not something one gets over, people persevere and go through. Getting over suggests recovery while going through just means you come out the other end. That was true with war and no less, a devastating hurricane. After Katrina in ’05 they salvaged and repaired what they could, replaced what they couldn’t fix and moved on. If we weren’t resilient we would dry up and perish. After Ida leaves her mark, those people will salvage, repair, replace and move on. Concerning the pressure of his job, former President Harry Truman said, “If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.” You don’t have to live on a stormy coastline but those who do, they know about getting knocked down and getting back up. Ida is the storm today, between the one before and the next one up the line. The next deadly landfall is out there, on the way, we just can’t say when.
I have concern for a friend who lives there. We talked earlier today and they are prepared as they can be. They have a permanently installed, industrial grade generator that can meet their (essential) electrical needs for several weeks. With enough elevation (20’) and set back far enough, several miles from Lake Pontchartrain’s north shore, storm surge is not much of a threat. High water (flooding) and wind damage can be. So she prays at the Catholic Church and I simulate Voodo ceremony on the patio with dance (shuffling feet & waving arms) rattle chicken bones in a brown paper sack, chant some gibberish and sprinkle some brandy (not too much) on the ground. My Faith in Voodo is nil but I like the idea of ancestor worship. Between the two of us, I don’t think our collective ritual can change the weather but neither can it do any harm. I know I feel better after I shuffle my feet to some gibberish and sip a little brandy.
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