During this past February vacation, I had the opportunity to travel to New Orleans, and spend time rebuilding a home that was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Although the progress made was encouraging, the devastation that lingered was nothing short of staggering. So many homes still laid in ruins, even five years after the disaster. One thing that truly struck me was the fact that insurance companies often left home owners hanging in the balance because the property deeds were lost over time. Many homes in the Lower Ninth Ward (the most devastated area) were handed down from generation to generation, and deeds were either misplaced or lost forever. This did not seem fair to me, because these people were left with little to nothing to their names. Although it is intrinsically good to practice benevolence internationally, perhaps we, as Americans, should consider looking inward first. We must not let the tolls of time distract us from the reality that there is still much to do in New Orleans.
Being from New Orleans, I feel the need to comment on Nick's comment. Yes, without a doubt parts if not almost the Lower Ninth Ward looks the same as it does when Katrina hit 5 years ago. But little has been done to fix this problem because most of the people that lived there never moved back and did absolutely nothing with there houses in terms of selling them or even trying to fix them up and most just left them there to sit and rot. Thats not to say that some didn't work really hard to get their house back, and yes the insurance companies are not the nicest in terms of handing out money to help (knowing from experiences, mainly hearing from my parents complaining about how they didn't give nearly enough money to fix the destroyed parts of our house). But I feel the need to point out that almost all of New Orleans is back and function, yes there are the houses here and there around the city that look awful because no one cares about them but the majority is fully functioning. So not to say that people should forget about New Orleans, that definitely not the point i'm trying to get across, especially as Nick pointed out the still devastated Ninth Ward, but I feel the need to clarify that majority of New Orleans is back and functioning. (Especially since that is always the first thing i'm asked when I tell people I'm from New Orleans, and they always seemed amazed that most things are back pre-katrina living)
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During this past February vacation, I had the opportunity to travel to New Orleans, and spend time rebuilding a home that was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Although the progress made was encouraging, the devastation that lingered was nothing short of staggering. So many homes still laid in ruins, even five years after the disaster. One thing that truly struck me was the fact that insurance companies often left home owners hanging in the balance because the property deeds were lost over time. Many homes in the Lower Ninth Ward (the most devastated area) were handed down from generation to generation, and deeds were either misplaced or lost forever. This did not seem fair to me, because these people were left with little to nothing to their names. Although it is intrinsically good to practice benevolence internationally, perhaps we, as Americans, should consider looking inward first. We must not let the tolls of time distract us from the reality that there is still much to do in New Orleans.
Being from New Orleans, I feel the need to comment on Nick's comment. Yes, without a doubt parts if not almost the Lower Ninth Ward looks the same as it does when Katrina hit 5 years ago. But little has been done to fix this problem because most of the people that lived there never moved back and did absolutely nothing with there houses in terms of selling them or even trying to fix them up and most just left them there to sit and rot. Thats not to say that some didn't work really hard to get their house back, and yes the insurance companies are not the nicest in terms of handing out money to help (knowing from experiences, mainly hearing from my parents complaining about how they didn't give nearly enough money to fix the destroyed parts of our house). But I feel the need to point out that almost all of New Orleans is back and function, yes there are the houses here and there around the city that look awful because no one cares about them but the majority is fully functioning. So not to say that people should forget about New Orleans, that definitely not the point i'm trying to get across, especially as Nick pointed out the still devastated Ninth Ward, but I feel the need to clarify that majority of New Orleans is back and functioning. (Especially since that is always the first thing i'm asked when I tell people I'm from New Orleans, and they always seemed amazed that most things are back pre-katrina living)
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