So, I’m not normally one for over dramatics.  I’m not normally one charging the front lines of some hidden agenda, or internalizing a great tragedy because I feel somehow more personally affected by it than others.  But over the last few days we’ve seen some pretty crazy destruction all around us and a lot of folks have been drastically affected and today I finally was able to get involved.

Yesterday I was riding in a car with a guy who lived in Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina.  He said that his house took in just over five feet of water and everything was ruined.  He told me that it wasn’t the storm or the water that was the worst part, but when the water started to go down.  When he was able to see the damage.  Able to see just how bad it was.  ”That’s the moment that really messes people up”, he said.  ”That’s when people need help the most.  That’s when they need to be cared for.”

Today I was in three different condos that had taken in about five feet of water themselves.  Everything was ruined.  TV’s, couches, books, photos.  Everything.  Today when I got home I looked around my house and imagined losing everything below a five foot line.  This is what these people are going through.

And the sad part to me is that most of us would rather complain about the lack of national news coverage.  We’d rather sit in our dry living room with our feet up watching CNN and saying, ‘They should be talking about the floods on here.’  Honestly I’ve seen more complaining about the news coverage than I’ve seen actual helping, and that’s sad to me.  So goodie, Anderson Cooper was here today.  He walked around, shook some hands and told people this place was a mess.  Is that going to change tomorrow?  Next week?  Next month?  Not if people don’t stop watching and complaining about CNN and go outside and do something for the folks who have lost everything below five feet.

Maybe I’m just complaining about the complainers, but I just think that sometimes people in their comfy suburbs desperately seek out drama and over internalize things because they are bored.  They are bored with their lives and need to be a victim of something.  And if the flood didn’t get you, you’ve got to be a victim of the media.  I say, throw on some boots, grab some gloves and go move some furniture, because where I was today, there’s a lot of that still needing to be done.