Autumn has arrived here in the Deep South. Today, I went shopping for sweaters, since none of mine survived the hurricane. I kept thinking about all of the people on the Gulf Coast whose homes were destroyed and whose FEMA trailers have not arrived yet.
From the GulfCoastNews.com Recovery News Report, updated 10/24/05 at 5:43 PM:
Much cooler overnight temperatures have arrived on the Coast with temps in the low to mid 40's expected. The low temperatures will be a hardship for many Katrina victims currently living in tents. More than 3,200 FEMA trailers have been set up in Hancock County, more than any other county since Katrina, but nearly 2,000 more will be needed in Hancock County.
The thing you have to understand is, these are just people. Whatever your preconceptions are about hurricane "victims" or "homeless people", let them go. We are all just human beings, of all socioeconomic groups, all races, all walks of life. It's not "you" and "us", or "us" and "them".
We are you.
Katrina has shown me some things. She's shown me that the American government is unable to protect anything we hold dear. She's shown me that the American people are an amazing, giving, tough, resourceful, huge people, and that they're not being represented fairly by the current class of small-hearted politicians and lazy bureaucrats. She's shown me that people around the world care about us after all, despite our government. She's shown me that it's not about FEMA, it's not about the Red Cross, that it's about amazing families like Elizabeth and Kenny's family in North Carolina. Like I've said before, it's just about people like you and me, on our own, together.
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