City of Legends

Landfall is expected in hours for Hurricane Gustav. I am grateful it did not build to a Category 4 or 5 storm, grateful it has pulled a bit to the West.

I have friends and, yes, family, as I count it, in that area. People whose fates and daily lives matter to me. But, regardless of that, there are people. Millions of people, standing to be inconvenienced, injured, financially devastated, looted and possibly even killed by the storm.

Some would say it is their own fault for settling where storms like this hit, just like people who live in an earthquake zone shouldn’t catch a government break when the big one comes. Fair point. I’ll leave that to the politicians. It sounds almost like late comedian Sam Kinnison’s point that to fix the famine in Ethiopia we needed to send them U-Haul trucks and luggage and explain to them you can’t grow crops in sand.

I hope all is well. I hope the damage is minimal and those I care about are safe. I hope everyone is safe and all, in some way, come through this a little stronger, a little smarter and with a sense of gratitude that Hurricane Gus wasn’t as bad a boy as he could’ve been.

I remember the horror I felt when Katrina hit, days, even weeks, without knowing the fates of people I love. I don’t want to go through that again (I guess in that way, my concern is selfish). So here are my prayers and best wishes.