Damaged Country

            Today is weighing heavy on me as I think back to the places we visited. We went on an outdoor tour of the city; we learned about history, music, and finally explored the St. Louis Cemetery. I knew seeing the cemetery would leave an impact on me, but I didn’t think it would be as impactful as it was. If you guys didn’t know, because I didn’t before I came here, the graves are actually above ground because the tombs and caskets will rise if bodies were buried underground because of the city being so full of water all of the time. New Orleans is built on top of swamps and is a very wet city. I can’t imagine having one of my loved ones’ bodies being washed up and exposed at whatever stage of decomposition it was at; my heart ached for families that have had to experience that. The tombs were beautiful and commanded my attention it made me feel as if the people inside of them were of importance. A lot of them have so much history and are from so long ago that they were deteriorating, which was sad.

         

This was one of the most deteriorated tomb's in the St. Louis Cemetery we visited today

  

            Seeing Marie Laveau’s tombs were interesting because of the myths and history behind them. People believe that if you visit Marie’s tomb, the Queen of Voodoo, and ask her for a favor and them mark 3 X’s on it she will grant you your wish and then you must return to her gravesite and draw a circle around the X’s you marked. Because one family purchases a tomb and then buries all members at that gravesite I thought it was really beautiful that an entire family could be together after death in the same gravesite, rather than having separate plots like at home. One thing that really bothered me was that the cemetery is open to the public. I understand that it is a part of the history of New Orleans and tourists are interested in seeing it because the gravesites here are unlike any others in the country. Honestly though, I felt terrible for standing there gawking and walking all over people’s loved ones. It really upset me to find out that if you have a family member buried in the particular cemetery we were in, I don’t know if the others are open to tours, but if you wanted to visit a loved one’s tomb you had to call the city and get a special permission pass. That seems so difficult for a grieving family to visit and talk to someone that has passed on. It just seemed wrong to me, I almost regret being a part of it because if I want to go talk to anyone that as died I can go see him or her on my own free will without any obstacles. A better solution would be to keep the cemetery private for family’s and funeral services and just let the public view from the outside of the iron rod fence. 

An isle view between different gravesites at the cemetery 

            After visiting the Presbytere, my heart aches for anyone who had to endure the storm and the struggles after hurricane Katrina. The real-life footage, pictures, and stories I saw today in that museum are forever engraved in my brain. The darkness that follows that storm around is the truth. I cant even begin to imagine the hardships and depressions of losing everything to a natural disaster. In life, there are a lot of things we can’t control, but something that just comes in and wipes out your entire city is honestly the saddest thing I’ve had to understand in my lifetime. I was only ten years old when Katrina hit landfall so I did not fully understand what happened, but I do remember seeing sad things on the news that my parents were watching at the time. I’ve been through one natural disaster while living in Illinois and it was straight-line winds and it was very scary for our small community, but we came together to help everyone out and fix the problems. The strength and stability that the people of New Orleans fought back with is incredible and inspiriting to say the least. In the museum, videos were playing and it was a montage of Katrina survivors talking about their experiences before, during, and after the storm. One woman said, “We’re here and we are not going anywhere.” That statement spoke to me because she is so right. The victims took control of their lives and helped each other as much as possible. The city is not all put back together and some places that were damaged the most, such as the Lower Ninth Ward, may never be the same as they were before 2005, but they still celebrate life to the fullest and if any city knows the statement of you only live once to be true, it is New Orleans. A lot of lives were lost in the storm and some individuals have never ben found. The fear of the unknown can be a scary thing and just seeing it up close and personal today brought tears to my eyes. I don’t know if I could survive what some people went through. Our tour guide today told us a story of a friend that lived in the Ninth Ward. He stayed home during the storm because he could not afford to evacuate, the water was rising so fast that he was forced to the roof of his house and while sitting on his rooftop his house came away form its foundation and was floating away and to survive he grabbed onto a tree and stayed in that same tree for four days without any food or water. The victims of the hurricane were deprived of the simplest, daily items like food, water, showers, and toilet paper, etc. This experience today at the Katrina museum really made me think about my life and be grateful for everything I have; I will never take drinking water for granted again. 

This teddy bear was an exhibit in the Katrina museum. It was a representation of all personal belongings lost to the storm.  This sight of a child's toy weighs heavily on my heart to think about all victims, but especially the kids, that lost any or all belongings due to Katrina.