To the victims of Katrina

Now the hard work begins. After the dead are buried, the flooded cities and towns drained, the destruction bulldozed and the last survivors evacuated, the tattered Mississippi delta region so savaged by last week's hurricane will have to start again.

Scattered across the country are thousands Katrina survivors. Their stories aren’t covered by the major TV networks. Theirs is a personal tragedy. Below is an excerpt from an email forwarded to me from a friend. It tells a heartbreaking tale of a family displaced by the hurricane, and their attempt to fight numbness and pain, and to try to piece together shattered lives:

My brother is going to be coming up here next Fri. Not sure for how long - maybe moving here he says. His wife will probably be coming up right behind him. I have offered my Mom a place and my sisters, but for now they are all staying near New Orleans so they can go in when they are able to claim anything that is left.

My brother's house is under water, my sister's has water to the roof. My Mom's is in Metairie and we are hoping she is ok - we don't know. One Brother-in-law does computer work - self employed - and he will probably lose his business. They are in trouble. Don't know if they are planning to come up here, but I gave them the welcome. The other brother in law is an electrician - he may be ok if people decide to rebuild. His wife my sister works for my other brother-in-law with computers.

She is out of work. My Mom and brother are out of work. It is just so sad, my sister just cries and cries. Not a damn thing we can do.

It’s so sad. While the media remains fixated on what they can see from their narrow view of people evacuating New Orleans or in the Astrodome, across the country are hundreds of thousands of individual tragedies. So many people’s lives will be shattered by Katrina and the Great New Orleans Flood. The resulting depression, divorces, bankruptcies, ruined businesses will be heart wrenching. I spent the days following Katrina glued to the tube and reading, trying to get a better understanding of what took place and what is yet to come.

In a much smaller measure, all of us will soon feel a taste of their pain. With New Orleans evacuated, the largest port in North America will be at a standstill. So much of our agricultural commerce flows up and down the Mississippi, and many of the materials and finished products we import come through New Orleans. Until we can get the port back up and running, the economy of the US will feel the hurt. From farmers in North Dakota unable to ship this fall’s harvest to people bitching about oil prices or food shortages, we will all feel the wrath of Katrina. Cities such as Biloxi and Gulfport, even Mobile, and countless towns and villages will have to take stock of the destruction and loss.

I can only hope that families victimized by Katrina will start again. That is easier said than done. It is important for any victim to seek help. Whether it is with a counselor to deal with shattered emotions, to finding work, to applying for disaster aid, the time to start is now. CNN is but one link to a Web page with a number of resources for the victims of Katrina.

Many will never return to New Orleans, Biloxi, Gulfport or elsewhere, and will start again in a new place. Their departure will have a permanent impact on the region. But many will come back and pick up the pieces. If the examples of cities destroyed by wars and disasters are any indication, New Orleans will come back. It won’t be overnight, but it will come back. Home builders, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, computer networking specialists, entrepreneurs, engineers and insurance agents are some of the people who will profit greatly in the rebuilding of NEW Orleans.

My thoughts and prayers will be with the anonymous author of the email above, and so many like him. For anyone who has suffered a personal tragedy, I can only say this: don’t give up. Don’t ever give up. Pick yourself up, dust off your butt and get moving again. You may have lost your home. Your job. Your loved ones. But you're still standing. If someone can survive Katrina, they can survive anything. And that which does not destroy you, makes you stronger. The future will only be better. Not today. Not tomorrow. But trust me: it will. It was for me some years back.

To everyone who has suffered, I believe firmly that your best days are ahead.