Here Lies Scott, God Help Us All

Here Lies Scott God Help Us All

We are getting close to the 5 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and people are talking about it, everyone is talking about it, except me.  I don't talk about it, ever. I think part of the reason is because what happened to me wasn't as bad as my friends, I didn't see the canal street horrors that Dan saw, and I didn't lose my home and businesses like Michael, and I feel so grateful for that I feel guilty.  As some of you know after Katrina hit I quit my job at WBBH in Fort Myers and joined the Red Cross, stayed in a shelter in Gautier Miss for three weeks, helping people get in and out of the environment, helping people find their families.  Then I moved to New Orleans, 6 weeks after the storm, and have lived there ever since. 

Since then, 2 of my friends have been murdered, one by a 14 year old boy, I've seen square miles of sorrow and ruin, dead land and loss.  When Katrina hit, a piece of my soul died, I don’t talk about souls, I talk about mental illness and id and psyche, but i would have to say in this case, a piece of my soul died with the city, slowly, and painfully.

But now, the city is coming back, crime down (marginally but down) new jobs, new factories, and tourism, I have a wonderful house in a prime neighborhood a loyal and kind wife, and a son who is a true New Orleanian (born and raised) that is turning into a great kid that I am so proud of. But still, I feel that sadness and death inside me, I don’t share my feelings, I don’t let out the pain that I need to.

So, the city is healing, I need to heal with it, all us Katrina veterans need to as well, I am naming this post “Here Lies Scott, God Help Us All” because it matches the post, and for those Katrina veterans, you may remember poor Vera on magazine covered in a tarp, they say god help us instead of god have mercy on her soul, because she was dead, and they were only days away from joining her.


Dan, Michael, Rayna, I love you all (especially you Rayna ;-)

Scott