Among Katrina Lessons

[UPDATED]

You can find more articles than you probably care to read on the web regarding Hurricane Katrina; the destructive aftermath, its devastating toll on human life and also wildlife. There is a lot of "shoulda, coulda, woulda" out there and people asking themselves, "well, what else can we do?" Becky and I did our minor part by making a contribution to an emergency relief organization, but even that doesn't seem enough. What else can we do but go on? I hope we take what we have learned from this disaster and apply it before the next one, sooner rather than later because nature will not wait for us.

From Swarovski E-Bulletins - AMONG KATRINA LESSONS:

"It has been difficult to prepare this month's E-bulletin, given the continuing disaster unfolding in New Orleans and beyond. The events and the human suffering take your breath away. There is little we can say other than to remind readers that there have been previous warnings about an event of this magnitude delivered initially by Mother Nature. As an example, we recommend an article that appeared in the October 2004 issue of the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, "Gone with the Water." This article clearly addresses the predicted consequences of the someday loss of marsh habitat south of The Big Easy. We suggest a long and hard look at this piece from almost a year ago:"

Link: Gone with the Water

I'm not a huge Nietzsche fan, but I've always been fond this quote:

"What makes people rebel against suffering is not really suffering itself, but the senselessness of suffering. Man, the most courageous animal, and the most inured to trouble, does not deny suffering per se; he wants it, he seeks it out, provided that it can be given meaning."

Friedrich Nietzsche
The Genealogy of Morals

Yeah...that's a pretty grim outlook, but sometimes it seems true, doesn't it? My personal view isn't so much a denial of Nietzsche's warning, but rather to use what we learn and have it serve as a catalyst for preventing this kind of suffering. Of course we can't stop natural disasters, but we can be a lot smarter about what we build and where we build it, thereby hopefully minimizing the impact these storms have on us, and maybe even on other critters who have no voice in the matter. In the wake of Katrina's destruction it is my sincere hope for our future that we do this and in the process leave a much smaller footprint on nature's habitat. It's pretty easy to point out what went wrong, but the challenge we must all rise to is how to prevent it from ever happening again. If that's not possible, then perhaps Nietzsche was right.