Today in History . . .

Today marks the 6th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. Hurricane Katrina forever changed the shape of New Orleans and the effects of this storm still scar the landscape of America today. There really are no words that can even begin to sum up this tragedy. Six years later I'm at a loss for what to say. I remember sitting on my bed, in my apartment in New York with my fiance watching as the news reporter spoke of the coming carnage they expected. I turned to my fiance, our faces white with horror as they spoke of bodies floating down the streets, levies bursting and untold horrors. It sounded impossible, especially in America. I don't think I need to tell you how very real it was.

Hurricane Irene has just swept up the East Coast of America. It was strange to follow the progress of the hurricane on things like Twitter, chats on Facebook and Google with friends and family back home on the East Coast. The world has changed so much in six years. Where once we had only the media's narrative to explain to us what the coming storm would be like-- now we have hundreds of voices all telling us their unique perspective on what is happening across the country. While reports so far consider this to not be quite the hurricane the media had hyped it up to be, it will still be a costly one in an already taxed and crippled economy. It is still a storm that has destroyed property, left people without power and without homes across the East Coast. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone back home. I hope that for those of you who have suffered damages you are able to recover quickly and rebuild.

I saw this as one of my friend's Facebook status updates and I thought it was worth sharing:

"Tomorrow is the 6th anniversary of Katrina making landfall in Louisiana - over 1800 people died and many many more lost everything. If Irene treated you gently, be very grateful, and keep the complaining on mute."

So, I leave you with this. Love is really all we ever really have.