Katrina

It seems everywhere you go, Katrina and the aftermath finds its way into conversation. Last night when we were out seeing The Wizard of Oz at the Boulder Dinner Theatre it came up. How people could be in such dire straits and we be out enjoying ourselves?

I am lucky, I suppose. I have not lost any family or friends, no one I know personally was in the path of the storm. A friend's new boyfriend evacuated to Colorado, leaving behind his ex and their children against his will. There are so many other stories, so many faces of people, our people, my people, so many that have been devastated, have lost everything except their lives, that it is mind-numbing.

The single worst disaster that has ever hit us, and we seemed unable to move, unable to snap out of the spin. Pictures of the storm, pictures of the people, stranded, angry, calling for help; cameras capturing the images, able only to report not provide the water, food, and medical supplies so desprately needed.

Relief has begun to arrive, and is arriving, at least one of my friends is going down as I write this to provide relief services to the refugees, and another might be called upon at any moment. I feel so helpless, that my thoughts keep spinning, my private grief mixed with a national grief, one we all share. A grief with no end in sight.