AS I SEE IT...

I drove to New Orleans today...

I had to bring my soldier son to the airport, so he could fly to Florida to spend time with his fiancee'. So while I was there I took a sort of driving tour of Metairie, Louisiana.

I haven't written much about the storm, as I figured everyone was watching the various news channels the same way I was. For the first week I was in Houston for three days, and when we got back we still had no idea where my two brothers were, and we didn't have phone service, Internet access, and no television. Cell phones did not work either, and even today many cell phones are working sporatically or not at all, still.

I'm one of the real lucky ones, because all my family is alive, and we had very minor damage. Lost a lot of food in the freezers, and have some minor roof damage, but that's nothing compared to what so many others lost.

Went to New Orleans today... there is evidence everywhere of how high the water got. The news media has really done a major disservice by focusing only on the projects were the poorest lived. There are 2, 3, and 4 hundred thousand dollar homes flooded in wealthy, affluent neighborhoods. Today, my daughter and I saw women crying as she stood helplessly in front of her very expensive home surrounded by piles, and piles of her household belongings laying ruined in the street.

I am certainly not trying to lessen anyone's lost, but sometimes the wealthy hurt just as much, and have a whole lot less experience in dealing with tragic events. Usually the wealthy have enough money to fix what bothers them. Money alone cannot and will not fix New Orleans.

I saw miles and miles of beautiful furniture ruined, kitchen appliances destroyed, and all of it, including carpet is piled as high as the roof tops scattered about the once fancy groomed lawns. As far as my eyes could see, no one was spared - rich and poor alike lost what they had. It is so sad.

The houses basically "look" okay, but trees are down, lots of roof damage, windows blown out, and the mold was already evident in the discard mess of household stuff.

So while the poor, elderly, and sick's suffering was shown all over the news... everyone suffered, white, black, hispanic - absolutely everyone lost and all are suffering.

I know insurance money cannot replace one of a kind, personal priceless keepsakes of pictures of your children when they were growning up.

For once the traffic wasn't bad in Metairie, which is a suburb of New Orleans. There is a lot of clean up going on in a great many neighborhoods, but the loss is incredible and staggering.

Huge steel billboards lay twisted by the dozens. I saw hundreds of trees totally uprooted, and leaving a big hole in the ground where they once stood, and provided shade and beauty.

Along Veterans Blvd. banks are still closed, many fast food resturants still closed, electricity operating only a handful of traffic lights, and evidence that they were once under or surrounded by water was everywhere.

Even if the physical and structual damage is fixed in the very near future, I doubt that the recovery from so much loss will soon be forgotten. I can't even begin to imagine how people are coping with the sights, and sounds - chainsaws are buzzing loudly, a large tree blocking the road, or laying on someone's roof is being taken apart.

Insurance or no insurance, commercial property or residential, rich or poor, white, black, hispanic, korean, mexican, chinese, etc. - hurricane Katrina spared nobody.

We saw what must have been hundreds of military vehicles, some carrying dozens of men, others water and food.

I didn't attempt to enter the major part of downtown New Orleans, or the French Quarter... I saw all I could cope with during the few hours I drove around.

At the airport I did not see one single solitary taxi - and that is very odd.

There was more security at the airport in Lafayette on September 13th when I picked up my son than what I saw today, September 19th at the New Orleans airport in Kenner. Really

We saw one of the hugh Park-N-Fly covered parking areas located across from the airport that just looked like the Jolly Green Giant, or a T-Rex had just stepped on it. Not only was the hugh parking awning twisted and crushed, I couldn't count all the cars buried beneath it. What a mess! How sad.

One other thought I had, I wonder if the cable companies are going to charge all these people $250.00 if they can't return the cable boxes? Oh yes, I can just picture the cable companies adding insult to injury.

I've read that some mortgage companies are not allowing grace periods for victims of hurricane Katrina. Can you imagine... you home destroyed, your way of life forever changed, you're in a shelter or hotel, you're unemployed and a mortgage company still expects you to pay your monthly payment?

It is very sad, but I am beginning to believe the people who did not own property are better off - less to worry about and a whole lot less hassle.