Katrina's Gone ... Back To School

The remnants of Hurricane Katrina went through here last night and this morning. No longer a hurricane or tropical storm or tropical depression, it was no more than a low pressure system, you know, one of those red Ls on the weather map surrounded by a lot of clouds. It sure rained a lot. Started around supper time yesterday and didn't stop until just before lunch time today.

But man, it's hard to imagine, even when you see bits and pieces on TV, what's still going on down south. What's going to happen to all those people and to those cities? Is New Orleans going to be like Atlantis? Just disappear under the water? Or do you somehow rebuild the levees, pump the water out, and rebuild? I mean, is anything going to be recoverable after that flooding or do you start from scratch?

Like so many things that you only experience through the glow of the TV screen, it affects so many people but it barely touches so many more, if at all. We had a lot of rain last night but it ran into the sewers and out into Lake Erie or the Welland Canal. I don't know anybody along the Gulf Coast. Except for the pangs of sympathy, compassion, pity that I have for the people down there it's life as usual for me and mine.

In fact, today I took some time off to run a bunch of errands with my wife and kids and to have a bit of fun. First stop was the Orthodontist with J. Then it was to the mall, back to school supplies at Zellers. Then it was to the doctor so that A could get his Mumps/Measles/Rubella booster and his vaccinations would be up to date. Then it was to Costco (I'm never sure what we're going in there for but we always come out with a bunch of stuff). Then it was back to the mall for more back to school shopping, lunch in the food court, and then a big treat, taking a family of 6 to the movies (we saw Sky High, a fun movie with a soundtrack full of remakes of 80s tunes that took me back to my high school and university days).

Am I a jerk because I can blow a wad of cash shopping all morning and then blow even more to see a fun movie with the kids while so many people are suffering along the Gulf Coast? The last time I went to the movies there were a thousands or millions of people suffering and dying in many and various places in the world too. What do I do? I wear a white wrist band and type on my new blog. Ugh!

Shalom (please God)