So much has been made of Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf coast, and New Orleans in particular, that it’s easy to get lost in all the noise. It’s turning in to pure chaos down there, and the photos and news reports make it look like it’s a scene from some “third world” civil war instead of our nation’s own beloved Bayou.

There are lots of stories of tragedy, of heroism, of losing, of finding, of destruction, of beauty among ugliness, of man’s futile hubris against Nature’s forces, of common, everyday humans struggling to survive when just a week ago so many had so much.

As the stoic, agnostic, libertarian, and generally un-sympathetic person that I’ve become, it would be easy for me to question a person’s willingness to live in a city that basically rests on land but under the ocean. That’s the kind of thing you expect from me, right?

Such has been my view. Until today.

Today I was pointed to an incredible post called [“Ask Not for Whom the Bell Tolls. It Tolls for ‘Occupant.’”](http://www.livejournal.com/users/scott_lynch/148437.html|”Ask Not For Whom the Bell Tolls. It Tolls For ‘Occupant.’”). Scott Lynch is able to shut those thoughts out of my head completely, by pointing out the futility of such comments. Natural disasters, are, by their very term, completely natural occurances. These things are supposed to happen, and they’re going to happen to you. It doesn’t matter how self-assured you are, how good you have it, how strong you build your house, how much protection your nostalgic Mountains afford you. The bell tolls for thee, eventually.

There are many places point the finger of blame. The levees broke partly because money and personnel were directed away from the projects to further the invasion and occupation of Iraq. There is a shortage of National Guardsmen and rescue equipment for the same reason. New Orleans and state officials implemented a ‘mandatory’ evacuation plan which required financial means of escape, trapping those without. Heck, there are even people who [believe Katrina was guided to the Big Easy](http://www.weatherwars.info/Katrina.htm|believe Katrina was guided to the Big Easy) by terr’ists.

It’s very easy to play such blaming games, and if you need to do that to help stop the empathetic pain, go ahead. Just leave me out if it. I’ll not stoop to such levels. Not this time. As one thoughtful commenter on Scott’s blog writes:

“and this is why I will return to my typical silence on so many subjects.”

Perhaps my silence hasn’t been typical, but I’ll make a conscious effort to make my silence on these topics more common.