The Dead Know Best

 Living in a coastal community has been both extraordinarily enlightening (how to survive a hurricane) to exceptionally frustrating (Steve Scalise and John Kennedy in Congress).  But perhaps the most incredible thing I have learned since living here is you Can't Teach a Sneetch.

For those of you who have just awoken from a coma, on August 29, 2021, New Orleans and Louisiana suffered a Category 4 Hurricane named Ida.  My family and a few neighbors thought we'd ride it out, since it was designated a Category 2, right up until the moment it roared on shore.  We are accustomed to Cat 2 hurricanes, they happen frequently here.  By the time the Hurricane Center changed it's mind and called it a Cat 4, there were hundreds of thousands of cars on the road, going nowhere.  In short, it was too late to evacuate.

Long story short - it was devastating for us, for New Orleans and especially for areas outside the levee district.  Frankly, when an area prone to hurricanes can't provide water or ice after a major weather event that has left the city powerless, you know you're living in the South.  Reconstruction continues one hundred fifty-six years after the Civil War, with the same carpet baggers now holding elected office.

But here's the really amazing thing I've learned.  Homes are destroyed for hundreds of miles.  Islands have lost half their land.  And yet, these stoic people say "we are going to rebuild" and they are treated like some kind of  national hero.  Call me ignorant, but why would anyone rebuild a house on stilts, on an island half gone and think this is smart or reasonable or courageous.  It's just stupid.

During this catastrophic event, the cemeteries in low country floated up their dead during the flooding and sent them inland with the storm surge.

Take a lesson, low landers, your dead ancestors want out.  What's wrong with you?  Move.  If ever the dead spoke, this is it.  Yet, "we will rebuild" is the resounding cry from a populace really to stubborn to think things through or figure out that rebuilding in the same place just invites more agony.