New Orleans

It's just unbelievable. I keep thinking about all the people who have been evacuated, who don't know when or if they'll be able to return to their home city, much less their actual houses ... but can't really get started over somewhere else, either, because they don't know what they might have left or a clear idea how long it might take to get back home. How do you handle that kind of limbo, knowing there's nothing you can do, knowing you have to wait for government and civilian rescue and relief efforts to clear the area ... and constantly watching the news, which is leaving those rescue and relief efforts looking pretty disorganized and haphazard.

I think in a year, maybe two, there will be a New Orleans again—different, but with as much of the original flavor and spirit preserved as possible. It's the American way. We don't give up or take defeat lying down, and since New Orleans is like no other city in the country I have faith that enough people are passionate about it that it will be rebuilt. It's the next two to six months that I wonder about. If we can't even get the city evacuated (or the refugees fed), how are we going to get all the water out, clean up the bodies and debris, and get started putting it back? It seems like every day the situation gets worse, rather than better. In the short term, it looks bleak.