My Katrina Experience\r\n\r\nAs we look back at the events leading up to hurricane Katrina’s impact on the Gulf Coast and southeast Louisiana and also the aftermath of this natural disaster, each one of us affected by Katrina has a unique story to tell. Some are stories of grief and mourning for the lives of loved ones lost while others are dramatic narratives of fear, distress, and helplessness. I have listened to many accounts of the experiences of those affected by Katrina, and the majority of those accounts have had one common aspect--they tend to focus mainly on what was lost, whether it have been property or family and friends. I feel that the social effects that hurricane Katrina has left on our society have been tremendously overlooked. Some people may feel that the hardest thing to cope with is the fact that they have lost all of their possessions. Many others may still be repressing the memory of that terrible September morning and the horrible events that soon followed. \r\n\r\nAlthough my personal experience of hurricane Katrina does not involve losing my home, property, or loved ones, I feel that the social experiences that I have been faced with are worth mentioning.\r\n\r\nI remember it like it was yesterday. It had been a few hours since Katrina had made her way through Louisiana, and the winds and rain had died down. I had no idea how much destruction Katrina had caused until my family and I finally got a glimpse of the local news. The first live footage of Katrina’s aftermath that I laid my eyes upon was of dead bodies floating in the floodwaters of the Lower 9th Ward. Some people were still trapped inside their homes, and the floodwaters were rising rapidly—they were screaming so loud, screaming for someone to rescue them so that they would not become Katrina’s next victims. I just sat there, staring at the television. It just did not seem like reality; it just couldn’t be real. I worked in the French Quarter as a bartender about 1 year before Katrina hit. I can remember thinking to myself, “I used to drive right pass those houses to get to the Walmart in Chalmette; I know people who live in the Lower 9 !”. It all just seemed like a bad dream.\r\n\r\nJust about five minutes after seeing those horrible images on the news, I heard my grandmother arguing with my grandfather over what frozen food she did not want to keep (they were cleaning out one of the refrigerators). It was like she could care less about the people who were dying and frantically looking for their families. All those people were still inside the Superdome with no food, water, or shelter since the roof had blown off! NOPD officers were firing at mobs of people who were trying to attack them; many of them found their families dead. I could not believe that my grandmother was being so uncaring and selfish. It made me furious. I stood up and shouted at her, “don’t you care about anyone but yourself!!! What if I was stranded somewhere screaming for someone to save me?!”. I just had to get out of that house. I stormed out of my parents’ house and got into my car. I just drove-over debris from the storm and live power-lines. I didn’t care about anything else but getting away from my narcissistic grandmother. I finally got to my own home, went inside and just cried. I must have cried for hours. I actually hated my grandmother at that very moment. \r\nThe next few days were even worse. The Red Cross had set up facilities in St. John the Baptist Parish, and never ending lines of people stood outside the doors waiting for some type of emergency assistance. So many people needed help. Many were refuges from parts of the Gulf Coast who had lost their entire home (they literally had nothing left-their homes had been swallowed by the receding gulf waters). What got to me the most were the people who were standing in the emergency assistance lines who did not need the assistance. I saw doctors and lawyers getting food stamps, and their homes had not been damaged one bit. I guess when you say the word “free”, people come running, regardless of what is being given away. I couldn’t believe how selfish human beings can be until I witnessed it for myself. My father forbad my mother to go to the Red Cross; she wouldn’t have gone anyway. \r\n\r\nThe experience I had with school following Katrina just takes the cake. After hearing that UNO would not have an on-campus Fall semester, I was devastated. I had been working so hard over the past year so that I could bring my GPA up, and I had even made the Dean’s list 2 semesters in a row. I couldn’t afford to sit out a semester, so I went and registered at Nicholl’s State University. The people at NSU were very helpful when I registered. I got four good classes, and the university even helped my buy my books. I thought that the students would be just as nice, and I was actually looking forward to going to school there. Little did I know that that was not the case at all. My first day at NSU was terrible. I got to school late and couldn’t find a parking spot, and I didn’t know where any of my classes were. As I was walking to campus, a student stopped me and asked, “So, how do you feel about all of these weird UNO people being here? They’re scary.” My mouth dropped and hung open in disbelief for a few seconds. I thought about just going along with her so that she would not feel bad about what she had said, but I just had to say something. I turned to her and raised my binder to show here the large letters on the front that spelled U-N-O. Then I replied, “Well, if you hadn’t notice, I am one of those weird, scary UNO people!”. She tried to apologize, but I just walked away. After that experience, I made sure to wear my UNO t-shirts as often as possible, and I always had my binder in plain sight. I felt like I had to stand up for all of the weird UNO people. It wasn’t my fault that this had happened. My home had not been damaged at all. I didn’t want to transfer to NSU, but I had no choice. If I had been in their situation, I would have thought that any student who had went through such a terrible experience and still managed to register full-time at another university would have to be an extremely dedicated and driven person. \r\n\r\nEven now I see people being mistreated because they are former New Orleans residents. It is happening everywhere. Over and over again I hear people criticizing New Orleans. No one is friendly and helpful. It seems like it is so difficult for people to empathize with the Katrina victims. What if Katrina would have hit St. John Parish? My family along with every other resident would be in the same situation that the current Katrina victims are in. We would have to relocate and find new homes and jobs. Sometimes I wish that it would have turned out that way just so people could see how hard it is to recover from such a terrible disaster.\r\n\r\n\r\nThis experience has made me open my eyes to the reality of human nature:\r\n\r\n1. Our first instinct is to survive.\r\n2. Our second instinct is to put blame upon others.\r\n3. Our thirst instinct is to hate others.\r\n\r\nIt feels like we will never escape this never ending cycle. If we can’t escape it, then the only other option is just not to become a part of it.