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hi everyone
hope you are all well

so here we are. a whole year has gone by since Katrina.

things are very different now down in New Orleans, so they say, though I don't trust the news too much on a day like this. compassion and solemn remembrance are beautiful things - until they get spun and re-worked by opportunists who see Christian kindness as just another handy tool for their ugly box of tricks.

here is my personal news cast for today: the forecast calls for heavy lip service from politicians who are eager to craft public sentiment into a vehicle for their own agendas.

I don't wish to sound cynical, so here is a thought that might prevent that: we have, as a nation, done a little bit of wrestling with the demon of racism now, so as long as we don't let that learning experience slip into the ether, we can say that at least some measure of human progress has been made in the year since Katrina.

here's a good way to start working toward that: let's do a little wrestling with the demon of classism now. it's the least we can do to honor those lost in Katrina. And it's the least we can do for 230 young First Class Citizens who are very much alive, thank God, despite living every single day of this past year in the shadow of a sludge-filled, manmade version of Hurricane Katrina, as if they were invisible people.

What excuse do we have for the children at Marsh Fork? What excuse do we have for their parents? What excuse will we give ourselves if the Shumate Sludge dam does ever break?

How will we live with ourselves if the worst really does happen, and we are suddenly forced to fully come to terms with the sickening irony that has existed in Raleigh County, West Virginia for precisely one year today?


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tags for this post - marsh fork, katrina