August 29
By Brenda Shoss,
Kinship Circle
August 29, 2006 marks the day, exactly one year ago, Category 5 Katrina cast people and animals adrift in a sea of loss and despair. When the levees broke, a singular scream arose from dark waters, drowning out reason. Erasing hope.
Who would hear their cries, scattered over rotting roads and toxic heaps? Who would see their desperation -- locked behind doors, bound to fence posts, stranded on rooftops? Whose hands would heal their anonymous pain?
At least 600,000 searched for familiar faces. But frantic eyes turned cloudy with despair when no one came. Broken bodies collapsed. Huddled inside bathtubs. Hiding behind walls. Their skin, now paper-thin, stretched over bones. A last tail wagged. An unheard purr rose from the rubble and merged with the wind.
Who would hear them?
Our government did not.
Who would see them?
Our law enforcers did not.
Who would return for them?
You did.
And with your eyes, they were seen...With your voice, they were heard...With your hands, they knew comfort...With your conviction, they were fed, rescued, and reunited...With your resolve, they found new homes...With your mercy, they saw love before death...With your empathy, all were cherished and remembered.
You came from California, Canada, Texas, Minnesota, St. Louis, Washington, Florida... even as far away as Sweden. A legion of the compassionate. Shelter workers, veterinarians, students, cops, soldiers, moms, sons, daughters, grandparents... Giant burly men and fierce lean women. You left your jobs, your families and homes to salvage lives forgotten in the wreckage.
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