Katrina

I'm in a fog and trying to finish a review for Passion but having a hard time concentrating. I have been glued to the TV for the last several days when not at work and surfing the news sites during work. The catastrophe is staggering but I still believe the good people of this world vastly outnumber the bad.

This morning the pictures and stories are getting better for those poor people stuck at the dome and the convention center. I will never forget the pictures of the sick, the elderly, the babies and their mothers trying to survive and not always succeeding. As one newscaster said " it's like scenes out of Somalia." But baby, it is us. A real embarrassment to our country and hopefully a wakeup call to the rich and to congress and the president whose duty it is to take care of those least able to take care of themselves. I read recently of how the gap between the rich and poor in this country is getting wider. I won't be surprised to hear those who failed in their duty to start pointing their finger at the poor, but that's the cynic in me.

On CNN they reported about a man who was able to evacuate all of his family before the storm, except his 20-year old daughter who insisted on staying to ride out the storm. He got a call from her on a cell phone from the dome on Wednesday. She was crying and horribly distressed and then the call cut off. She never called back and this poor man has been meeting every bus full of evacuees from New Orleans looking for her. OK, I just lost it right then. I have a 22-year old daughter and just imagining her in this situation almost did me in. I don't know if they'll even report if he ever finds her but I will hope and pray for them.

I was out to dinner last night with husband, Bob, and I burst into tears in the restaurant trying to express my feelings of horror and helplessness. All I can do is send money and pray. There are a bunch of blogs out there who much more articulately describe exactly how I feel and that is some comfort. But the people caught in this catastrophe have no comfort and it's up to us to take care of them.