I live in Metairie, Louisiana. It is a suburb of New Orleans and I’m about six miles from the heart of the city. Two years ago, Hurricane Katrina ripped through my city destroying it and changing millions of lives forever. My parents lost their home and all their belongings. I lost my job and virtually all of my friends left the state for good. My three month premature niece was born four days before it hit and had to be air-lifted to a hospital in Baton Rouge because her hospital was without power when the storm hit. We all suffered…but we don’t want to relive the damn thing every year.

August 29, 2005 is the day the storm hit. My family was spread out in evacuation. My sisters were in Houston, Mobile, and one of course had to stay with her newborn. My parents, my other niece, and myself left the day before and headed as far East as we could until we found a hotel. Right past Tallahassee, Florida we found a hotel and watched as our city was ripped by winds and immersed in water. The long story of the evacuation, watching looters, and other things are dozens more columns alone. But everyone says now how horrific that time was. What I don’t get is…why is their an anniversary?

Why does any horrendous occurrence have an anniversary?

Sure I am all for respect being paid to those who have lost their lives, but are big ceremonies and shit really necessary? The President came into town. Special services and ceremonies were held all around the city in order to remember what happened two years ago. People lost their lives and every possession they own, don’t celebrate it. There are people trying to forget the damn thing ever happened and move on with their lives. I don’t think that plastering it on every television channel for the world to see is really going to help them.

People are still living in FEMA trailers. People are still living in their f*cked up homes because they don’t have the money to fix them up. Insurance companies are screwing people over left and right while Road Home is taking the long road to helping anyone. You can’t drive five miles anywhere from Baton Rouge, LA all the way to the LA/MS border without seeing some damage still left behind. Go further East along I-10 and you’ll see all the remaining damage from Hurricane Rita.

The governor of Louisiana was worthless before and proved that ten times over when the storms rolled through. The mayor of New Orleans…well, do I really need to even discuss his uselessness? Help was so difficult to find when it was needed; yet now everyone and their grandma is here to help celebrate the two-year anniversary. Yes, you read that right. Celebrations are happening. People are on camera smiling and laughing and shaking hands on this oh so joyous event. Meanwhile, there’s a warehouse in central New Orleans that is holding over one hundred unclaimed and unidentified bodies. Make ya want to keep smiling?

I beg everyone. Let it die. We have all moved on with our lives. At least my family has because there is no sense in stewing over it. My parents are still fighting with the insurance company and Road Home, but that is a legal battle and they don’t relive what happened with each meeting. My niece just turned two and after many hard-fought medical battles, she is kicking ass. We look at her as a miracle because she survived being born three months early; not because she survived a hurricane. I found a new job and am doing fine.

The city is still in shambles and I doubt will ever be the same again. That isn’t because of anything but abandonment. People always talk about how great New Orleans was and how much it should be saved. Those are former residents now living in Texas or Montana or just anywhere else. The government says New Orleans will flourish again. Yet it is those same government officials who do nothing until a camera is on them. I have hated the city for a long time, yet here I still am two years later. Says a lot when those who loved it are gone and one who despises it is still around eh?

Whether it flourishes or not…drop the memory of Hurricane Katrina crap. Nothing is being done to protect the city from another storm of its proportions were it to happen again. Nothing is being done to rebuild any more of the city. It is obvious…just come down and drive around the city for one day. You’ll see. So drop the charade folks, the New Orleans you see now is the one you’ll see in five, ten, thirty years. Time is up, Hurricane Katrina was a disaster…a disaster. Don’t celebrate it every year assholes.

Last 5 posts by Danny Cox

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