It is so difficult to digest the calamity that is Katrina. It is unique, in a horrid way, in that her effects are not immediate and final, but slow, and relentless. An agonizing Hiroshima, slow, choking, rotting, drowning. Katrina, long since assigned to oblivion, continues to destroy New Orleans in layers - its infranstructure, its culture, its laws, its people, and in some ways its very soul is under siege. 911 was a horrific act, but at least there remained a focus for our fears and righteous anger. Katrina, however, leaves us shaking fists at the sky, whatever or whoever we believe to be there.

The task now surely is physical in nature - rescue, relocation, repair, restoration. But when those heroes of the day, or victims of that night, have a spare moment from the onslaught of sudden, dire activity, perhaps the first place to start is not so overt as lifting the wreckage. Perhaps it is where they, and we, start in our hearts on this journey.

Firstly, for those outside ground zero, we should know that they, the momentarily weak, need what strength we possess. We may feel many things about New Orleans. We may feel it was not us, and all the better. We may feel that it was a city destined by geography to suffer this fate. But we should also know, as the saying goes, there but for the grace of God go we. New Orleans is their home. It is their Boston, their London, their Sydney, their San Diego, their Dallas. Their home. Look out your windows and see those familiar landmarks, those trustworthy trees, that place where the sun sets just so, and imagine it forever changed. That is just a shadow of how they must feel as they pick through the devasation looking for memories, or loved ones gone missing.

As surely as we've ever needed family from time to time, needed a shoulder to lean on or an ear to listen, New Orleans needs our outpouring of sympathy, generosity, and will. They may or may not rebuild the city, but we must first rebuild its populace. New Orleans can not be allowed to pass into history as just another one of this cruel world's Pompeiian tricks of fate. And to prevent this, you first reach out to its people. If you have an old blanket, and a few cans of food, and it makes sense that you can give them to the effort, do so. If you have a few dollars, or euros or pesos, pass on your small wealth to those that now suddenly have nothing at all, and no place to go.

Most importantly, though, if you have a thought of hope for New Orleans, share it. If you have even an uninformed idea that their city can be reclaimed from the murky depths, harbor that thought for them, because they can spare little hope for themselves with the wreck of their dreams staring back at them. Give help. Give hope. Give what you can.

Secondly, for those from New Orleans that might read this, though certainly it's unlikely many have anyting near them so helpful and mundane as a computer screen right now, know that you in turn should not give up, nor let your neighbor falter. New Orleans was the most unlikely city to bejewel the Southern end of the United States. By rights, a city beneath sea level, beset on all sides by the enemies of water and weather, should probably have never existed. And yet it has for more than 2 centuries. The effects of the current destruction of the city indicates the extreme importance it holds for the rest of this nation. The might of trade in this nation floats past your gates into our homes. The history of our nations greatest echo from your streets. New Orleans has withstood time, the wrath of Nature, even invading armies. The fact that such a resolutely stubborn city would exist against enemies and logic proves that it must go on. The very idea that New Orleans was built by shear will, means it must continue in the same way.

What do you name a rebuilt city, already called New? Perhaps it's simply called home. And so once again, the old master's words apply more than ever -

"Do, or do not. There is no try."