By
The calamitous intensity of Hurricane Katrina has spell-bound the nation. We are the land of the twenty-four-hour news cycle, and we watch breathlessly as every live broadcast offers a new speech, and sometimes a new body count.
The horror is never-ending. Most estimate that it will take a month to drain New Orleans and possibly years to rebuild. Even as the immediate danger subsides, those poor Americans still adrift face nearly post-apocalyptic conditions, entombed within a sewage-ridden nightmare the likes of which most of us, thankfully, will never experience. Every sordid detail of riots, panic and heartbreak further cements the impression that this week’s events will present us with few arguments for hope.
Many students at U of L ask questions like, “What can we do? How can we help?” The Cardinal staff members have asked many of these same questions. As a newspaper, we hope we are playing some part by providing information about campus initiatives to aid those affected by Katrina. Nevertheless, we wonder, does this small action matter? We gladly perform our duty as journalists, however trivial it might appear, but at times we are forced to wonder, is the despair felt by the newly homeless or the bereft in any way assuaged by our sympathy? It seems unlikely.
Despite this, there is work to be done. And if the scope and magnanimity of the challenge seem daunting, a look at the battle-weary faces of the hurricane’s survivors shows that such concerns miss the point. Hope is not ours to feel, but theirs.
President Bush promised that the city of New Orleans will rise again, but it’s the ascension of its people that will be the rubric by which we measure the country’s recovery. The considerable might of the United States military will be focused on this effort of rebuilding and recovery, and on the University of Louisville campus, even we, far away, will play our role. And if opening our university’s doors to Louisiana students provides some small measure of comfort and aid to the victims, who are we to judge if we have “done enough”? And if we watch the news and are ashamed, none of that matters, so long as the people of a ravaged city, for better or for worse, see home again.
