Something Michelle said made me think...

Our latest comments from Michelle (world-famous wife of the infamous C Joe!) made me think of something else that Katrina taught me...

Neighborhoods.

Those of us that lived inside of Gulfpark Estates (and maybe St Andrews, too) were able to pool resources and help each other through tough times after the storm. Some of us had vehicles that could be used by those that didn't (thanks Fish!), and some of us made ourselves available to help when clean up got to be too much for one person to handle (thanks Fish, C Joe, Harvey, Jambo, Cramey... that list gets long real fast), and all of us were there when we needed someone to lean on and listen to our bitching. I moved from my porch to C Joe and Michelle's then on to Beau and Di's and back to mine in one night on more than one occasion... alcohol not withstanding.

Places like Paul Lee's store were much in use after the storm (Fish and I actually volunteered to work there during the gasoline rush), but imagine if that store had been an actual market instead of just a gas station/convenience store. How much better would our life in GP Estates have been then?

A hundred years ago, big cities like New York and Chicago had neighborhoods where all your needs were met within a few "walkable" blocks... and while these (and other) cities still have those neighborhoods, they are no where near as "self sufficient" as they were then. Towns all across this country were centered around "main street", where everything you needed to live in that town could be found... a grocer, a hardware/dry goods store, a doctor, a school, a church and a pub.

Those places that still have that self-sufficient layout are the ones that will weather the next version of Katrina that hits this nation... and if you live somewhere without that sort of "convenience", then the onus is on YOU to make sure you have all you need.