A Reminder from Katrina 10 Years Later
By Albert B. Kelly
For those who saw it, it
must have been a sight to behold. Ten years after the fact, memories do fade
and the immediacy of the moment goes away with the passage of time but for more
than a few Americans focused on the basics like staying alive in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina; they won’t forget it.
Soldiers, 196 of them to
be exact, plotted a course north through Texas in a convoy of nearly 50
military vehicles, ultimately setting up a little relief operation near San Antonio.
If you were hungry and in need of a meal, they provided roughly 7,000 hot ones
a day for three full weeks.
When all was said and done
that September, these soldiers had hauled and distributed 250 tons of food and
bottled water. Their help included 3 tons of purified water, baby diapers, and
medical supplies. For good measure, the soldiers also provided access to a
mobile surgical unit to help those in need.
During those days, I was
on my way to the airport to catch a plane to New Orleans for a national
convention when I received a call saying that everything was cancelled. Some of
my colleagues were not as fortunate and were stuck at the convention hotel
without power, little food and no clean restrooms for over a week.
It is worth noting these
soldiers as we mark the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina precisely
because they were soldiers in the Mexican army. In the immediate aftermath,
when our own official response was questionable they, and many of their colleagues,
didn’t hesitate to help.
They didn’t wait for an
official invitation to cross the border nor were they deterred by a history
that has seen its share of insults. They saw human suffering (not American
suffering) and they responded. The same was true of the Mexican navy which
provided Mi-17 helicopters, all-terrain vehicles, radio equipment, and
amphibious vehicles.
The medical team of
Mexican doctors, nurses, and paramedics carried out over 100 evacuations and
performed hundreds of medical consults and nursing procedures in the field. The
Mexican government sent Katrina victims $1 million through the Mexican Red
Cross while relief workers were busy assisting people sheltering in the Houston
Astrodome.
Few remember or perhaps
even know about these relief efforts; I certainly didn’t know until I came
across a piece in the Washington Post written by a former U.S Diplomat, Stephen
Kelly, who served in Mexico in the period between 2004 and 2006.
I thought it worth mentioning
because 10 years out, we’re told by some that our neighbors to the south don’t
send their best or brightest, but in September of 2005 that’s exactly what we
got.
If you were one of the
ones that were hungry or thirsty or in pain in a devastated community along the
Gulf Coast, my guess is that you likely didn’t care what color or ethnicity was
behind that helping hand- you were just glad to have it.
And maybe that’s one of
the take-away points here. We’re all vulnerable at some point (some more than
others) and we all want to be safe and secure and unafraid when we are. Katrina
reminds us that crisis and vulnerability are great equalizers and once we’re in
the thick of it, whatever “it” happens to be, exactly where comfort comes from
or how it gets there is unimportant.
That’s something that gets
easily lost these days with all the talk about borders and “anchor babies”. But
then I suppose these loudest voices wouldn’t much care about how or why these
soldiers felt compelled to help us in a time of need or what it took to get
here.
I guess for me, it comes
down to something a guy named Paul wrote in a letter to some folks in a city
named Philippi a long time ago; “…whatever is honorable, whatever is
right…whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any
excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these
things.”
In the life of any
community, including our own, we have to live together and work together and
build together and this can be challenging in the very best of circumstances.
So I choose to let my thoughts dwell on the honorable and praiseworthy stuff,
like soldiers from the Mexican army coming to our aid when it was needed most.