I went down to New Orleans last spring. It was and remains in my heart as one of the most humbling experiences of my entire life. Growing up in Milwaukee, I feel we take for granted the fact that the worst things that can happen to us are lots of snow, or as we have recently experienced, the dreaded flash flooding.

New Orleans is 15 hours from Milwaukee by car. My friend John and I drove the whole way through and it wasn’t easy, but we had the essentials to make it through. Down South, life is rather quaint; people go about their business in a slower, more laboring way.

Anyway, back to the destruction. It is all there, and it is as bad as you can imagine. I missed out on the 3rd Ward because I showed up later than some friends. I did get to see the Mississippi coast, though. It was like going through a wasteland.

The amount of destruction knew no boundaries. As you passed street after street of empty foundations, you could imagine what had been there.

It could have been something as small and as meaningless as a McDonalds, but I knew a lot of these foundations held more than that. There was evidence of different kinds of houses and beautiful landscaping.

All of this was destroyed totally beyond recognition, and it wasn’t just right on the coast. You could see the destruction spanning at least a mile inland. My friends and I tried to go swimming, but the gulf was still polluted. There were papers and even a typewriter in the gulf; not exactly appealing to swim in.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I worry we have forgotten about this area in the past two years. It seems that little has been done to help this area recover. The Gulf Coast is a jewel, and it is being treated like an orphaned child. There were signs of rebuilding, but not many.

The one bit of evidence of rebuilding that my friends and I did see was a rich hotel/casino that had made it back from the dead. It was very sad to walk in from all the destruction and see people gambling away hundreds of dollars. It made me think of the lack of responsible priorities that this country has. The one thing rebuilt was a casino for rich folks and nothing else.

I am still kept up some nights by the destruction that I saw down there. Maybe if our president really looked up close there would be some changes. As for now, there is nothing but empty promises and unspent funds.

Just imagine what it would be like if part of Milwaukee were just wiped off the face of the Earth. And imagine two years later; little, if any, had been done. Then maybe you can have an inkling of a feel for what the people of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans have gone through.

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