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Date Posted: 13:28:34 09/09/05 Fri
Author: Casta Diva
Subject: New Orleans
In reply to: AF 's message, "Re: *Huge sigh*" on 05:10:22 09/06/05 Tue

From the European side of the Atlantic, I've been watching the plight of New Orleans and her people every day with a mixture of distress, at the complete breakdown of a major city's infrastructure, horror, at the lack of an humane response from Washington and admiration for so many suffering a cataclysmic event with such tremendous courage and dignity.

The violence, particularly against women and children is still sickening, and people killing each other for water - rather than helping each other, awful, but I agree with AF in that desperate people who have never been given much in the way of opportunity, or respect for their right to live free from corruption and poverty are, when abandoned by authority in their hour of need, most likely going to crack in such dire circumstances and crack in a bad way. It isn't forgivable, but it is, if not understandable, then predictable - and isn't that in itself an opportunity for change?

But is it is the dignity of the survivors which stays with me. Destitute, traumatised, abused by neglect, and yet still articulate, quiet and strong. I have found myself in tears so many times watching men and women walking away from everything they have known with a proud step and a gleam in their eye. Spirit. There is just so much spirit.

The corrupt in Government or in the local police departments will carry on being corrupt, unless censured by the American people, but the spirit of the people of New Orleans, for me, leaves a greater indelible impression. One to be inspired by.

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