Katrina

My personal and professional life this past week had me spinning 90 miles an hour (a poor choice of words, all considered) and I am ashamed to say I didn’t realize the magnitude of the destruction and devastation caused Hurricane Katrina until Friday night when I finally sat down in front of the television and watched the benefit concert, Dateline and 20/20. Nothing drives a point home like seeing video and hearing the horrific stories.

I am heartbroken and saddened for the sea of precious humanity awaiting help from a government who has been slow to respond to this overwhelming natural disaster. Our government’s tunnel vision focus has been on possible terrorist attacks, when in fact, “Homeland Security” is so much more. We can only pray that this is a significant wakeup call for all of us when it comes to the power of Mother Nature and the appropriate response in the aftermath.

Once again, I will try to prepare my home and family for “The Big One” that California is predicted to have one of these days. My previous efforts at ensuring “earthquake preparedness” have diminished greatly over the years. Supplies must be rotated and replenished. This disaster has reinforced the fact that a family must be self-sufficient for quite some time before expecting help. I vow to make this a priority over the next few months.

My daughter in law, along with 2500 other soldiers from Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, have been deployed to Louisiana to assist in the relief effort. According to Fly Boy, she was very excited to go, despite not knowing how long they’d be there. I hope they can provide a lot of assistance and that they find it to be very rewarding. I only wish I was in a position to help. If I were retired, I’d make my way there to assist in any capacity needed. Instead, I will provide my assistance via a monetary donation to the Red Cross and pray for strength for the victims of this deadly storm.