An open letter from a volunteer in Katrina recovery

February 19, 2006
Dear Katrina,

Your recent visit had a devastating impact on millions of Americans, yet still provided a positive wake up call to do things better throughout our society. I need to talk about both sides of this event so people will never forget, will hold accountable those that failed, and force changes that will protect us from a future threat.
At first, we were surprised and stunned by your strength. You turned the Gulf into a 'war zone' with your Cat 3 winds, your storm surge and your torrential rains and tornadoes.
However, it was our complacency, generated somewhat by your smaller, but more powerful sister Camille in 1969, which we survived much better. She gave us a false sense of security that, when coupled with arrogant pride in our levies, flood control and drainage systems, and our disregard even disrespect of natural wetlands and their role in protecting our shores, resulted in our undoing and created the worst man-made and natural disaster to impact the US. Therefore, you were not just a natural disaster, but rather an equally man-made one.
It was this realization that lead to our next reactionary emotions: frustration and anger, which were directed at the federal, state and local governments, most particularly FEMA, the Corps of Engineers, President Bush, Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin. There were even those that saw you as God's response for sin, global warming, politics in general or other equally cynical rationalities.
You made us cry when images of people trapped on rooftops wrote signs like "Help Us"; when communities denied safe passage to evacuees or would not take them in; when bodies were found in hospitals, nursing homes and on the streets, in homes and debris piles; and when people in positions of public trust avoided their responsibility with excuses casting blame elsewhere. All this while human suffering reached unimaginable proportions in the Superdome, the Convention Center and in hospitals and other 'safe' places.
In spite of all this, Katrina, you brought underlying issues of race, poverty and health status to the surface, even though both a beloved American iconic city and Gulf Coast residents were inundated by flooding and destruction. You revealed inadequacies in our government and the man-made institutions and facilities that were designed to protect us. But most importantly, you provided a wake up call to all of us who were touched by you to come together and help our fellow Americans no matter what their economic status, their way of life, their age and health, or their skin color.
Today, there are more volunteers in your wake along the Gulf Coast than residents, more people helping people than governmental presence, and a far greater human spirit than would have been the case had you never visited our shores. This is indeed a blessing.
Therefore in the end, Katrina, we have won. You are gone. But we are here, rebuilding, recovering, and are of one accord to never, ever let you or your kind so affect us again. Many more of us now are committed to remembering these lessons.

An American Volunteer