Katrina's gifts

yes, you read that correctly - i've been thinking a bit about one of the gifts hurricane Katrina has given to us, the American people

and here's where i'll begin

a month or so ago i was watching a documentary - yes, i like to watch a lot of documentaries - smile

and i was watching one on the Tibetan monks and how they lost their mother land in Tibet

and yes, this was a horrible thing done to them, the take over of their land and culture and the slaughter of most of their beloved people

so, they lost their land and then they were transported all over the world, to live and practice Buddhism

now, i remember in the 60's and 70's where the rock stars were going to these far-off places, climbing mountains for days to commune with Buddhist monks - cuz they never left their mountain tops...

so the few, very select few with lots of money and time, got to receive any kind of enlightenment from them (the monks)

but now

i can drive a few hours and walk into a house and talk to one of these learned souls....and get enlightenment

so enlightment is now open to all who wish to receive it!



next documentary ~ spike lee's 'When the Levees Broke"

i just finished watching this most powerful and insightful documentary...and cried when i watch bodies floating, people talking about their loss and i was sad when i watch people still living in tents on their own land waiting for temp trailers and then their houses re-built

but i caught just a small glimpse of something

one mother, was transported to Minnesota, i think it was Minnesota -- well, let's say someplace cold and white - - if you get my drift

so, this mother got there and the town welcomes her with open arms..she eventually found her two kids and brought them back to this town where they built her a home and like i said welcomed her with open arms...this black mom and two kids in an all white town..

so the town gets a bit of NOLA enlightenment and culture and learns that black people are the same as them ~ moving the human race just a bit closer to being racial free

and this is just one example of how this natural and man-made disaster has spread the special essence of NOLA to the great US of A.

now i would be the first to say, i wish Katrina had never happened

just as i wish that the monks didn't had to flee their own homes in their beautiful mountains

but they did and it did happen

a personal example of the spread of the wonderful NOLA spirit was an encounter i had at a local drinking establishment...i heard the man sitting next to me order with a thick, strange accent -- so nosy me, i had to ask where he was from...and i was surprised to find he was from NOLA

he was a male nurse transported to my own home town..so, we spent the next few hours talking about his home, jazz and well, a conversation about so many subjects that i normally would not have had with a stranger.. but i felt - knowing about his plight that he was not a stranger to me -- heck, i knew more about his situation from the news than i did about what my own brother and sister's life

now, i never saw him again but i will always remember his spirit

so, could these two events and thousands more like them have ever happened without Katrina?

**

and now for something completely different ~ a new kind of office fight

**

8 comments:

BBC said...

I for one do not support them rebuilding New Orleans, not there anyway. They just asked for all that trouble. And now they are asking for more of it.

Dada said...

az: I loved your story. Thanks for sharing this. Your chance encounter with a NOLA nurse reminds me sooo much of why I keep going back to the commons--for chance encounters like these!

From that experience, I gather we share a common penchant for excavating the stories buried deep inside every stranger. And from that, I take delight in knowing--that on the slim chance we should ever happen to occupy adjoining tables in the same place at the same time, we shant go unacquainted for long because it's just in our natures to dig deeper in search of the soul of a fellow earth traveller.

pissed off patricia said...

I tell you, I feel so sorry for these people who were just plucked up and put down so very many miles from their homes and lives. It is nice if they can meld into a community but I sure wish they hadn't had to. They have been through enough hell already.

azgoddess said...

dada - i'm thinking of the word serendipity when i read your post...

pissed off and bbc...i feel the pain fo those people...as to if they should rebuild or not - that is their decision

i was only speaking of what gifts/knowledge/enlightment we could receive from this calamity

kind-of looking at it from the glass half full instead of half empty...

Anonymous said...

A news report spoke of this diaspora. It reaches all 50 states. Now that would be an utterly fascinating documentary. This particular bit on ABC News tonight spotlighted two "refugees" to Seattle and Utah. There are literally thousands of stories like that. Let's explore that...the "good' and the "bad" of it, to see how it changes all of us. Someday sociologists will study this great migration. It's transformative.

Enlightenment is in the blade of grass before me, is it not?

UHMVAK = Military vehicle that siphons off all questioning of the subjugated populace.

BBC said...

"azgoddess said... pissed off and bbc...i feel the pain fo those people...as to if they should rebuild or not - that is their decision."

Well Hon, it may be their decision but look at the bigger picture, like Einstein would have. Just how long should you support people for doing stupid things and expecting everyone else to pay for it? How many times should you feel pain for them?

Nature needs that area, and I'm confused as to why you don't support them moving, that does not sound like a goddess to me.

enigma4ever said...

I am a bit surprised by BBC...I have been a refugee..and it sucks..( it was under different circumstances- but it still sucked to have move abruptly and quickly with hardly any belongings with a child,dog and cat- I was lucky that I kept my little family together...and we ended up someplace I had never lived- and the people there were warm and loving- I was soooooo lucky...blessed...fortunate...grateful...) Katrina is ALL about COMPASSION and HUMANITY ...These people went through HELL..they lost everything- their HOMES , their Memories, friends, neighborhoods, their own sense of History- which in NOLA is huge- many had lived there their ENTIRE life. LOSS is a very real thing..PTSD is also very real- many suffered more during the recovery than the actual Hurricane. ALL have stories ( we have some here in Cleveland too)....

BBC when you talk like this it breaks my heart- it is narrowminded and so unkind to judge people that experienced a catastrophe...NO ONE ASKED FOR TROUBLE...WHAT an awful thing to say....
You live in the NW- area prone to fires, earthquakes, and floods...I would hate to think of people there not understanding catastrophes...because I know they do- I worked Red Cross in the NW....Please open your heart and your mind...and maybe you do need to see the Spike Lee Special, or come to my site and see my videos on Katrian- esp the DRIVE...

Sorry but I had to say something...

and AZ I love your story and also your warmth and soul that you pour here...as Americans we all need to take care of each other...not act like the King- heartless prick that he is...

Thanks for the post- it was very cheering- and heartwarming...

BBC said...

A refugee may be in a place not of their choosing, be a victim in fact. That is not the same as being stupid and being where common sense says you shouldn't be.

Look at the science of nature, I'm not being narrowminded, I'm just thinking from a higher level.

Well, not many understood Einstein in his time either. But if you want to pratice compassion, think about the thiry thousand people a day that die of starvation. That puts Katrina in perspective.