Hurricane Katrina

I haven't said a whole heck of a lot about Hurricane Katrina. Partially because I am not sure how to put my thoughts into words.

All over the news, I have watched people literally dying before the nation's eyes. People searching for help that did not, to their eyes, seem to be forthcoming. People are standing outside, chanting, "Help! Help!" On MSNBC, I saw a mom holding a young baby. She said that she was having a hard time getting the baby to wake up because he was so dehydrated. I could hear the desparation in her voice.

In fact, all over the Superdome, that's a common theme: desparation. Some people haven't eaten for days. There was no drinkable water. Toilets were overflowing. People use boxes to relieve themselves...if they can find one. One gentleman had a seizure on the floor. A grandma lay dead in a wheelchair, covered in a sheet. On the road by the dome, a reporter talked to a camera. A dead man lay behind him, his face covered with a shirt.

That's what I have seen on TV. I am sure the reality is much worse.

For one thing, the stench. Feces, urine, decaying human remains, garbage, gasoline, rotting food...you get the idea. And many of the above contain diseases...some that can be gotten just by standing in contaminated water. Some bacteria may be airborne.

And even if people were inclined to travel the streets, with putrid water up to their waist, they don't dare, because of a few buttclowns that feel it necessary to fire at anyone that moves, who steal television sets that are unlikely to work as they are waterlogged.

Fortunately, things are beginning to happen. National Guard troops are coming in to restore order. Food and water are arriving at the Dome.

Now it remains to be seen if lives can be saved. The majority of these folks in the Dome aren't hoodlums. They are honest citizens who, for whatever reason, could not leave their city. They are young babies, crying for just a drop of water. They are families who are trying to figure out where the heck their lives are gonna go next, who lost everything except each other. They are grandmas and grandpas who went to the Dome because their Social Security check hadn't come yet and they didn't have enough money to leave.

This isn't a black vs. white issue. It's a matter of displaced citizens being in the most pain they have ever been in in their lives.

Please pray for them.