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The Ronee' Files, Part Forty-Seven: A Week of Tragedy and Loss (By Ronee') by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Rated "PG" by the Author.
Ronee' continues her thoughts about the situation going on in the Gulf States, particularly of the chaos that has gripped New Orleans, Louisiana. She is also upset because her mother, Louisiana, has left to help the hurricane victims in Mississippi, and she is scared that something might happen to her while she is there.
Dear readers:
Please give all you can to relief efforts, and you will be helping some very needy people right now. (I have given $20 to the RedCross to help the hurricane victims. :) ) Thank you!
Saturday, September 3, 2005, 10:47 a.m., C.D.T.~
Dear Journal~
It has become one of the worst times our nation has ever faced since just about nearly four years ago, when we were attacked by terrorists--and this recent disaster just may very well be the worst one EVER to hit our shores.
A killer hurricane slammed into the American south coastline, and thousands of people are feared dead, especially in Mississippi and in (and around) New Orleans, Louisiana. Now gangs of looters are running amuck in the flooded, storm-damaged streets of New Orleans, and people are desperate for food, clean drinkable water, electricity, shelter--ANYTHING--, and millions of people have been left homeless or hurting. New Orleans, Louisiana, and the coastal cities of Biloxi/Gulfport in Mississippi now lie in a pile of rubble, and help is just now starting to trickle in. Thousands upon thousands of people have been evacuated to neighboring cities or states, and now they are staying in shelters with just the clothes upon their backs, and uncertain as to whether they will ever hear from friends or loved ones again--or if they will ever be able to return home.
Now, roving bands of looters and gangs have pillaged their way through New Orleans, and now the military (and reinforcements of police and other law-minded people) have been flown in to try to stop the chaos and confusion that has gripped New Orleans. The city is now in total disarray, adn people are desperate to help the relieve the pain and suffering.
Many of those people who were hit by Hurricane Katrina were elderly, very poor, or disabled, and they had no way to get out of harm's way. A good portion of them were left behind, and those who DID manage to find shelter sought refuge at the SuperDome in downtown New Orleans--only later to be forced out by rising waters, leaks, no power or food, and poor sanitary conditions--and now they were trapped, with no place to go. What made the problem all the more desperate was the fact that several levees surrounding New Orleans sprung leaks, and further flooded New Orleans. Then the gangs and looters came in; and now New Orleans, Louisiana, is in utter turmoil.
Many people were angry at President Bush because he was on vacation at his ranch in Texas when the disaster struck, and he didn't go to the stricken areas when he should have; but now he did go there, both to New Orleans, Louisiana, and the Mississippi coast, and he has pledged to send in more relief workers, and he has promised more in the way of monetary aid to help the victims of the hurricane. It will be many years before recovery efforts have been completed, and the once beautiful cities of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Biloxi/Gulfport, Mississippi, will never be the same ever again. This will affect each and every American, and now once again our nation is in tears.
Thankfully, some countries around the world (China, England, Australia, Canada, Kenya, etc.) (and major businesses like Coca Cola, GM, and others) have pledged in to send help and money, and now telethons will be taking place, to further plea for help for the hurricane victims. Even the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon is getting involved in raising money for the hurricane victims AS well as those who suffer from neuromuscular diseases. Hurricane Katrina will probably be tagged as the worst hurricane EVER to have hit our shores. There will be people taking in storm refugees into their homes, so these storm-weary people can have a place to stay--and food in their hungry bellies--as the relief (and military) efforts step into high gear.
My maman, Louisiana, has left to go to Mississippi, to help with the relief efforts there. She is a nurse, and nurses and doctors are desperately needed in the storm-damaged areas, to provide medical aid and emotional support to the victims that have managed to survive the wrath of the hurricane. She and a whole group of people from our church, Christ Community Assembly of God, got together, and they decided to help with the relief efforts. She got shots for malaria, yellow fever, and cholera, and all day yesterday she was packing and repacking; and she then left to meet her friends at our church; and they then took a bus to Mississippi, where they are now currently on their way. If all goes well, they should be in Mississippi by sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening. There is no telling as to WHEN she will be back.
I am happy that maman is going to help the storm victims, but at the same time, I am scared, very scared, that something will happen to her while she is there. I know she wants to help in her own way, but I don't want to lose her either--I don't know what I would do if I were to lose my mother...All I CAN do in the meantime is pray that God keeps her safe and that she does make a difference in some very needy people's lives...
I have been watching the news practically nonstop (which is so unlike me) ever since this happened on Monday, and I am at once numb with shock and saddened with grief over our hurting country. It doesn't help matters any that this happened right before the four-year anniversary of the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 0f our citizens, and now we must grieve yet again over our newly fallen brothers and sisters. I have been crying so much my sinuses are shot, and my allergies have been in an uproar. I have friends in both New Orleans, Louisiana, and in Biloxi, Mississippi, and I am wondering if they are even ALIVE or if I will ever hear from--or see--them ever again.
God, please help our nation, and God, please have mercy upon us and our people, especially those in Louisiana and Mississippi! And please keep my maman safe from harm and danger! I pray this in Your Most Holy and Mighty Name..AMEN.
~Written by Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux, on September 3, 2005 (Saturday morning). :( >tears<
Karen, such tradegy is something our minds have a hard time accepting but accept and assist we must! We MUST give all we can in any way we can to help the survivors. Such a sad thing, this has touched me as much as The Oklahoma city bombing and then the 911 tradegy. My prayers and support are ongoing.........
I have no words, Karen. This disaster is beyond belief and beyond my ability to add to what has already been said. I struggle to ACT instead - I am not God, who is the ONLY one who can bring this round to good, but I can be a willing instrument in His hands - as can we all - and I pray that I will just maybe do the ONE thing I can to perform my link in the human chain around the globe to start mending this grievous wound in the heart of man. This surely bring us to our knees in utter humility. May God increase and bless our efforts. TY as always, LOL Kate xx
Karen, A very heartwrenching piece, but also one of hope in our Creator who is the one who cna see us through any trial and tribulation that comes our way if we put our trust in Him. Superb write!
A page-turning novel about a relationship between best friends that is interrupted because of betrayal , deceit, sexual promiscuity and pregnancy happens!
Saturday, September 3, 2005, 10:47 a.m., C.D.T.~
