During the hit of Hurricane Katrina, I was shocked. From what little I saw when I would come back home from school at around eleven o’clock at night I was hooked on the television. I found myself, every night watching the current situation in New Orleans and it started to become a habit. I never expected that there would be so much chaos reported in the United States over a natural disaster. One would think with such an advanced and peaceful country compared to others, citizens would not be adding to the disastrous burden. However citizens did just this, creating more destruction and lost all forms humane ethics in our society. There were reports of violence, theft, rape, animal brutality, etc. Even suspicious stories of doctors/nurses killing patients who were thought not to be able to survive while waiting to be rescued were reported. Apparently the patients were under so much pain and distress that could not be bared without proper treatments that were scarce. One thing I remember most vividly was when they had found a dog strapped down on the roof of a car.\r\nA couple weeks after, I bumped into an old high school friend at the university I attend to, George Mason University. I didn’t remember him attending the university before so I asked. He told me that he was actually a student at Tulane University. Many of the students from the New Orleans area were evacuated and sent to other schools all over the U.S. He wanted to go to George Mason because his parents’ home was so close and decided to finish his degree here as well.\r\nThat same semester a friend of mine asked me if I was interested in making some money by passing out flyers at a local metro stop. I accepted the offer and while I was there, I encountered a New Orleans refugee. He was walking with crutches and worn out clothes, taking his time to get out of the terminal. Others were scampering to catch the bus after a long day at work. He approached me and asked what the flyer was about. I noticed he was in no hurry. I told him what I was promoting, some sort of government proposal I can not exactly remember what. He immediately switched topics telling me he was a victim of Hurricane Katrina’s disaster. He was in the Northern Virginia area to try and restart his life. He had asked me where the nearest hotel was and then complained to me that the government was not giving him any financial support for his necessities. It was a very uncomfortable situation. Reflecting back to it now, I think he just needed to talk to someone. He probably held back all his anger and fear for so long that he was about to burst, and I just happened to be the one to talk to at that moment. \r\n

Citation

“[Untitled],” Hurricane Digital Memory Bank, accessed November 26, 2024, https://hurricanearchive.org/items/show/5309.