Reflection

I don't think it's set in yet, really, that we've lost a major American city. I think this New York Times piece does some justice in explaining the gravity of what's happened there in a physical sense. But I think the possibility is that, in the longer term, we may have to come to grips with a larger psychological fallout, that of the realization of our national mortality.

I remember a car accident in which three students from my high school were killed. It shook things up for a while, and everyone was talking about our realization that we were susceptible to death as much as anyone else. I think we'll come to that sort of conclusion as a nation, and one more broad than September 11. Four years ago, we felt threatened by others who wished to attack us. Now, I think, we'll have to come to terms with being threatened by the negligence of those who lead us. Unlike the terrorist attacks, there is no enemy to blame for the total destruction of New Orleans but nature and ourselves.