More than meets the eye...

In the past 36 hours, Pat and I have had a hard time talking about anything other than the tragedy on the Gulf Coast. Of course we're just kind of shook by the horror of what it must be like to be without a home, clean water, and other basic provisions, with no promise of when any of that will be restored. But as we continue to talk, read, and listen, aspects of large scale tragedy are hitting us that have never occurred to me before.

Last night, I saw pictures of a sea lion stranded in a residential swimming pool and another in just a large puddle. These were sea lions from the New Orleans Aquarium that had been hit. I had never thought about zoos and aquariums being hit, and all of those animals potentially running/swimming free. Not to mention the sharks from the Atlantic Ocean that are swimming the streets.

Today there was talk of prison riots. I had never considered what it must be like to try to evacuate prisoners.

Pat pointed out how people will go without paychecks indefinitely. What about the paychecks they have coming from the weeks worked prior to the storm? There isn't even a postal service to get them those much needed paychecks.

Of course this list is endless, and I can think of dozens more things I've overlooked even as I type. And this is limited to the gruesome personal impact, not even including the ecological impacts of all of this.

I know this is nothing that everything else isn't thinking. (At least compassionate people who aren't all "But what about those damn looters..." or "They'll get insurance checks...") But its still really hard for me to wrap my mind around.