A platform that encourages healthy conversation, spiritual support, growth and fellowship
NOLACatholic Parenting Podcast
A natural progression of our weekly column in the Clarion Herald and blog
The best in Catholic news and inspiration - wherever you are!
Nationally, news coverage of the twin storms and the devastation of Hurricane Laura has been minimal. After the storm landed and photos of the destruction were released, the media cycle continued its coverage of the Republican National Convention and politics surrounding the November election and aspects of COVID-19.
For eyes around the nation, Hurricane Laura was a blip in the “normal” coverage, reminding us that the year 2020 is truly a year of catastrophe following catastrophe. But at home, here in Louisiana, the story of Hurricane Laura and its effects on Lake Charles and the Louisiana-Texas border is quite different.
It’s a story of rebuilding. For a city reminded too keenly of the link between Hurricanes Laura and Katrina, New Orleans and its neighbor cities watched with heavy hearts. It was too familiar – down to the very date.
Awaiting the dawn of first light, we saw, in those horrifying images and video, memories of our own past. We felt the same stomach-churning, heart-stopping, gut-wrenching pain and panic as we did 15 years ago – the same emotions that those in southwest Louisiana undoubtedly felt with the realization that the world post-Laura would be nothing like the world pre-Laura.
Just as with New Orleans and pre/post-Katrina, the effects of the storm will be life-changing for those affected.
We know what it’s like to rebuild. Fifteen years ago, we rebuilt (and in some cases, continue to do so) our homes and communities. We know the pain and uncertainty, the financial burden, the sense of homelessness all too well.
So, it stands as no surprise that local media coverage shifted its priorities to focus on relief efforts. Because when there’s a devastating hurricane, we turn to the community. We have to. There’s no other way to rebuild. It cannot be done alone.
Parishes have organized drives for hurricane relief efforts; trucks and supplies are arriving to our southwest Louisiana neighbors in an effort of solidarity and support. New Orleans cares; our city understands.
The week of the storm, I was preparing my college students to encounter Coleridge’s famous poem, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” It’s a haunting poem about a ship lost at sea, isolated from the world, and a mariner who kills an albatross, with disastrous effects.
As I attempted to move my students beyond the question of why the mariner kills the albatross (spoiler alert: we never find out), I instead directed them to the isolation that the mariner feels, and the imagery of isolation that the poem uses.
The 1798 poem speaks remarkably to recent circumstances – the disastrous effects of isolation and the importance of community. Too often, we read the poem with the crime of the mariner being that he killed the albatross. But, what if we looked closer? The true crime is the act of independence – the act of selfishness and thoughtlessness, the lack of respect for his community.
I’ve said before that in times of trial and tribulation, we turn to our community – our faith community, certainly, but also our immediate communities.
The story of Lake Charles and its surrounding areas reminds us of that. It also reminds us that we – all of us – are in a state of rebuilding and, that now, more than ever, we must rely not only on our own selfish motives, but on the needs of others and the social goodness of our neighbors: locally, nationally and globally.