the price of relief

hey. in spite of a fantastic weekend, i remain pensive. some is PMS i am sure, but mostly it's becasue i keep getting distracted by thoughts of new orleans. what a totally shitty situation. i feel like the government response time was slow, but i am sure glad they are in there now, restoring some form of order. general honore should run for president. i feel terrible for the people whole lives are pretty well destroyed and who will have to rebuild everything, both physically and emotionally. i worry constantly about the streams of children who are separated from their parents, whose parents may well be dead. i am proud to know and hear stories of people who have already done so much to help, and equally horrified by those who have done all they can to impede the efforts of others. snipers especially. and i keep thinking--how would i feel if that were me... yuck.

i gave some money to the red cross, but it felt so abstract that i still wanted to do more. there is a local business here sending specifically requested supplies to the woman coodrinating the sheltering of about 15k people at LSU, so i decided to help out with that, too. i made up some easily distributable packets of toiletries so that people taking shelter at LSU can at least wash the grime away. i went to target and i bought all the small sized bottles of shampoo and conditioner and all that kind of stuff that i could afford, went home, made up some packets for men and some for women. over a hundred dollars and two hours later, it is still only enough for 10 people, and it will only last those people a few days. few things have brought home for me the cost of the relief effort like doing that one small thing. this is just going to be, as my mother would say, along row to hoe. i can't even imagine how much it's going to cost before it's all said and done!

the good news is that since friday, this one local business has already sent 104 boxes of supplies and $9000 to LSU's relief fund. things like this really do bring out the best and worst in people--thank god the best usually wins out.