Come and See

We had sat in her trailer for 45 minutes or so already, talking about a number of things, from her life before Katrina, her life after, the struggles of her family and kids. We talked about work, her financial situation, what she has and what she may need more of. And we talked about the Parish, St. Bernard Parish, and it was during that part that Ann Robin said the words that hit me harder than anything else she had said to that point. Those words were, “come and see”.

Ann wasn’t talking to myself or to Tom, another volunteer who was with me in Ann’s trailer early Wednesday evening. She was talking to all the people out there who are may not know where or what St. Bernard Parish is. She was talking to people who may think to themselves, “it’s two years later, how bad can it be. She was talking to people who may just say whenever they see a Katrina-related story on the news, “I’m sick of this story, it’s old news”.

Of course no person in this country is at fault if they haven’t come here. Not everyone can, nor should everyone need to. And most have their own lives and families to care about and take care of everyday, and that’s how it should be. But I think what Ann said has meaning, even some power, from the perspective that it won’t hurt anyone to know that not only does St. Bernard Parish exist, but that there are hundreds of good, kind-hearted, hard working people here who just want a normal life again. And, it might even help residents of St. Bernard Parish if more people do know that.

Ann is concerned, but not down. Ann is sad, but not bitter. Ann is frustrated, but not resentful. She, like many of the other people and families still living in FEMA Trailers with no word on when or if they’ll get their Road Home money, or any other form of assistance for that matter, just wants to know that her country cares, that they’re not forgotten. This seems to be a theme lately. I’ve written of similar sentiment several times now as of late, but there’s a reason for that. Time is passing, and things aren’t changing or progressing fast enough. There’s advancement in bits and pieces, sure. Good progress, too. But not enough. How can I say there is progress when, on this particular day, I stood in a house that is nothing but studs and plywood with a mother and daughter who shared countless memories of what their home used to look like? How can I say there is progress when I sat in a trailer for an hour with Ann, looking around and wondering how her and her 16 year old son inhabit this thing day after day after day without going insane?

I picked up the newspaper early today, as I usually do, and on the cover of the Times-Picayune was a story on a project called Make It Right. Make It Right is an effort driven by a consortium of architects, special donors, and the actor, Brad Pitt, all of whom are donating millions of dollars and hours of their time to build 150 homes in the Lower 9^th Ward. 150 homes, that means that 150 individuals and/or families will be helped, will take a huge step in getting their lives back in order. That’s wonderful. It truly is, as the 9^th Ward needs help. But oh by the way, so too does St. Bernard Parish. Unfortunately, St. Bernard is not the beneficiary of the media’s narrow-minded lense into reality, where it seems 90% of the dialogue and pictures and text we are fed focuses on one particular area.

Does this make Brad Pitt and the people he’s working with evil? Not at all. I commend Pitt for his interest in the recovery efforts and all he’s doing. I just say, and say loudly, there is more going on here than the needs of one 12 or 15 block radius. Much more.

Ann Robin said those words in her trailer on Wednesday, and I’m echoing them, to everyone who thinks things are ok or normal here, or who doesn’t know what St. Bernard Parish is. Come and see. Then maybe we can all ‘make it right’.