Preparing for Gustav

We're watching the hurricane news closely as our New Orleans family is starting to arrive. Nikki and our nephew, Brady, arrived this evening. Jason is gathering important things and the pets and will be here as soon as he can, although the traffic going north is awful.

I have mixed feelings about how this hurricane is being handled. I am relieved to see that so much action is being taken in New Orleans. Most residents are taking it more seriously. The mayor has told tourist to just go home & go home now. He's urged residents to get ready to go soon. He stated when residents need to be out. Those that have no transportation are being bused out & then will take trains out of harms way.

No one wants what happened with Hurricane Katrina to happen with Hurricane Gustav. The response from the government was so poor that many lost lives were because they were never rescued or because they had no way to get out.

However, what about the surrounding areas? Does New Orleans get all the attention because they are below sea-level and surrounded by levies? Or, do they get so much attention because they are the Crescent City, live in culture and history? As much as I love New Orleans and am for the preservation of their culture and historical areas, I'm also concerned about the surrounding areas. I'm happy that the people of New Orleans are getting out, but are the same services being offered to those in Texas and Mississippi that may suffer the same (or worse) fate?

I guess what's important is that no one is looked over. The small-town simpletons of rural town, USA, are just as important as the people of the Crescent City--the cajun, the creole, the musicians, the crazy tourists... Our government needs to learn how to provide help to all those who need it, not just to those who will in turn improve the popularity of certain governmental leaders and politicians.