When You Know the Grass is Greener

Post Katrina New Orleans is a difficult place to live and work. Our new reality isn't really a happy one for many of the city's residents. I know certain public officials have taken an almost Pollyanna attitude towards conditions in New Orleans in recent months but I have to disagree every time I look into hopeless eyes and hear desperate voices. Our plight becomes even more real when I travel outside of the area and am reminded what "normal" looks like. Jaime and I spent the weekend in Houston celebrating the marriage of a good friend and I was reminded again that there's a lot of green grass outside the New Orleans metro area. Not once did I hear someone utter words like Katrina, road home, or contractor. Instead, people talked about shopping, movies, and vacations. People smiled without forcing it and spoke kindly as if they meant it. Being around normal people with normal jobs in normal situations melted the stress away and I began to feel something strange in my face. The muscles had begun to relax and the corners of my mouth moved ever so slightly into the upward position. I believe the Ancients call it "being happy." By no means am I trying to say that Houston is some grand utopia. I simply want to expound on the very first statement I made in this entry and bring to the reader's attention that New Orleans is not, as was recently stated, "back, (and) its better than ever." I still believe that New Orleans can be a city on a hill shining bright with the love of Jesus but it's going to take a long time and a lot of effort to get there. Those who stay and those who come will have to give that time and effort knowing that just over the horizon lie greener pastures where life makes sense, things aren't so difficult, and Katrina is just a bad dream.