New Orleans On My Mind

Without A Trace is a powerful show on its own right, but tonight's episode about Hurricane Katrina survivors (yes they are survivors not refugees) especially hit close to home. The nuanced, but heart-wrenching performance by Eriq La Salle was phenomenal as he used his talent to embody the pain of what happened in the wake of disaster as well as the repercussions. Mr. La Salle portrayed a father who saved his family when the levees broke. Unfortunately, he still encountered a troubles and misfortune while trying to put his life back together.

The sad thing about the entire episode is the realisation that there are many people in Houston and other towns across the country who are living what had been depicted within that hour. Some viewers could probably watch this latest installment from the venerated series without crying. But I couldn't. Call it the old heart of a softie breaking when watching once the pain conveyed in real life as well as in fiction. The tears flowed as the backstory and the present merged together to present the crisis that the present Adminstration tried so desperately to sweep under the rug. After seeing the devestating effects that still continue through the eyes of the characters portrayed by the family featured in the episode, one has to come to the conclusion that not anything that any of our national leaders could do or say will make up for the devestation that had occurred last August.

Although help has flowed in many directions to help the survivors get back on their feet, still more needs to be done. It seems that even though some may try to sweep what happened during Hurricane Katrina under the rug (and even with the recent overtures made toward the firefighters who had lost their lives in the desvestating Esperanza fire in California), it never came to my attention the national leaders from the President on down have uttered such words of remorse or conscience when it had to do with bringing the Katrina survivors hope or comfort.

Of course, the hearings were held and the speeches were spoken. People are still suffering before and after the words were uttered. It is appalling and amazing at the time taken during that crisis not to save people who were waiting on roofs or wasting away at the New Orleans Convention Center or the Superdome. Even after that, some have continued to make their home in New Orleans while others have found other fortunes in various cities across America.

But one thing comes to mind when seeing tonight's episode and wiping the tears away. Eriq La Salle and his co-stars in the show had brought forth the voices of the "invisibles" that theorist George Lakoff had mentioned in his piece regarding Hurricane Katrina:

It is impossible for me, as it is for most Americans, to watch the horror and suffering from Hurricane Katrina and not feel physically sore, pained, bereft, empty, heartbroken. And angry.

The Katrina tragedy should become a watershed in American politics. This was when the usually invisible people suddenly appeared in all the anguish of their lives -- the impoverished, the old, the infirm, the kids and the low-wage workers with no cars, TVs or credit cards. They showed up on America's doorsteps, entered the living rooms and stayed. Katrina will not go away soon, and she has the power to change America.

The moral of Katrina is mostly being missed. It is not just a failure of execution (William Kristol), or that bad things just happen (Laura Bush). It was not just indifference by the President, or a lack of accountability, or a failure of federal-state communication, or corrupt appointments in FEMA, or the cutting of budgets for fixing levees, or the inexcusable absence of the National Guard off in Iraq. It was all of these and more, but they are the effects, not the cause.

The televising of the event brought forth the voices of those who never got the rest of the country to listen. Their pain and despair at such an event could not be hidden away--not by the glib coverage of vacations at Crawford Ranch or the shoe-buying spree while purchasing tickets for "Spamalot".

The pain of those who have lost nearly everything in the flood comes forward with a stirring resonance in their stories and resilience to make their lives better after the flood. However, it is still agreed that Hurricane Katrina let forth another deluge that it will not be easy to wipe away in the wake of questions to levy at the present Administration: the inquiries of race, class, history and region will not escape the minds of those who had watched minute after minute of the footage in which people bared their souls about the suffering they intensely experienced during those weeks.

I hope that others, who have watched this poignant episode, never forget what had happened and how we have to think of the bigger picture than ourselves when we see others of our citizens suffer in the worst degree that nature can dish out.

This is yet another reminder that kindness cannot be forgotten or wished away. We must still nurture the notion of compassion in our hearts to reach out to others when times get rough for some of our brethen no matter what walk of life they come from.