My Heart Is Heavy

I am here in my room having just finished my day of classes and I've been thinking about a lot. The TV is on and the news reports are continuing to come in from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast about the catastrophic devastation left from Hurricane Katrina. Last night I watched CNN as one reporter in the field interviewed a woman in the Gulfport, Mississippi area. She was telling the reporter that she was missing her two sons. As she gave the reporter their names and where they were from, she started to cry. She had buried her aunt just last week and many of her friends and neighbors were also unaccounted for. My heart ached as I watched the woman try to speak through her tears and then was embraced by the reporter.

The hundreds upon thousands of people who have posted on websites and directories with descriptions of their missing loved ones is overwhelming. Even more saddening is to think about the enormous amount of homeless and people in poverty who were in New Orleans. That city has been a favorite vacation place for my family and I over the years. Throughout our many visits there we always came across musicians playing for penny change on the street corners and those who were just wanting some food to eat, a place to stay and a new path to take for their life. This can only lead me to think and ponder about how catastrophic the effects would have been if this disaster were to hit a more affluent U.S. Gulf Coast city such as Miami or Orlando. It is hard to grasp the amount of devastation that is in New Orleans right now, but the loss of human life is going to be unimaginable. My heart is heavy and I will continue to pray for the souls of those lost and the spirits of those who have been saved from this horrible disaster.