finally, my own thoughts on the topic at hand

During the wake of the hurricane I have done some thinking. I have realized that there are two people whom I have known who live in the areas hit most hard. I am now doing a search for the one person who knows them best, Jeremy Herrin.

Jeremy and I dated a million and a half years ago and I believe he's now married and living in Pensacola, Florida. His cousin Brad lived in New Orleans and his aunt Nancy (Brad's mom) lived in Hattiesburg, MS. I've done a search, found an address for Jeremy, but have come up empty in my searches for Brad and Nancy. I am holding out hope that the address I have found online actually is still valid and he gets back in contact with me with good news.

I read a post from my dear friend Amanda and the article she linked to from an October 2004 article in National Geographic. It was amazing to me.

When I think about all that has happened the one thought my brain keeps coming back to is that we humans never really think it's going to happen. Big storms that take out entire areas and communities. Eruptions that do the same. Etc. Yet, when they do, because they do, we are always surprised by these events. Scientists warn us that the potential for great destruction is there...but we don't do anything about it. We go through life with blinders on, not really wanting to admit that we are small beings in this place that is soooooo much larger than we are. We are quick to point fingers when the current administration is slow to respond (and yes, it annoyed the hell out of me that it took as long as it did to get these people the help they so desperately needed, it was abominable.). We are also quick to join together as one large community to help as best we can.

Let us remember that WE ARE SMALL and Mother Nature, sometimes has other things on her mind. We are not the end all be all, but a cog in this world. We can be the destruction of this planet OR we can help her thrive and continue on. Please, recycle. Use your cars less. Treat the earth as though she is precious, because psssst SHE IS!!!