This was posted a hsort time ago on a Fantasy Football board of all places. What makes this board so great in this time is the true variance of political views that are brought together by something quite non-political: football. The poster claims it is a treu, first hand account written by a friend of his who wants it out. So, here it is:
Jeff, a family and now personal friend to whom I will forever be linked,
and I were volunteering with a boat and pulling people out of the water on
Wednesday. I have a first-hand experience of what we encountered. In my
opinion, everything that is going on in the media is a complete
fatherless maleization of what is really happening. The result is that good people
are dying and losing family members. I have my own set of opinions about
welfare and people working to improve thier own lot instead of looking for
handouts, but what is occurring now is well beyond those borders. These
people need help and need to get out. We can sort out all of the social and
political issues later, but human beings with any sense of compassion would
agree that the travesty that is going on here in New Orleans needs to end
and people's lives need to be saved and families need to be put back
together. Now.
I will tell you that I would probably disagree with most of the people that
still need to be saved on political, social, and cultural values. However,
it must be noted that these people love thier friends and families like I
do, desire to live like I do, and care for their respective communities (I
was even amazed at the site of seemingly young and poor black people caring
for sickly and seemingly well-to-do white people and tourists still needing
evacuation from New Orleans' downtown area) the same way I care for mine.
Eight people in particular who stood out during our rescue and whose stories
deserve to be told:
1.) We were in motor boats all day ferrying people back and forth
approximately a mile and a half each way (from Carrolton down Airline Hwy to
the Causeway overpass). Early in the day, we witnessed a black man in a boat
with no motor paddling with a piece of lumber. He rescued people in the boat
and paddled them to safety (a mile and a half). He then, amidst all of the
boats with motors, turned around and paddled back out across the mile and a
half stretch to do his part in getting more people out. He refused to give
up or occupy any of the motored boat resources because he did not want to
slow us down in our efforts. I saw him at about 5:00 p.m., paddling away
from the rescue point back out into the neighborhoods with about a half mile
until he got to the neighborhood, just two hours before nightfall. I am sure
that his trip took at least an hour and a half each trip, and he was going
back to get more people knowing that he'd run out of daylight. He did all of
this with a two-by-four.
2.) One of the groups that we rescued were 50 people standing on the bridge
that crosses over Airline Hwy just before getting to Carrolton Ave going
toward downtown. Most of these people had been there, with no food, water,
or anyplace to go since Monday morning (we got to them Wed afternoon) and
surrounded by 10 feet of water all around them. There was one guy who had
been there since the beginning, organizing people and helping more people to
get to the bridge safely as more water rose on Wednesday morning. He did not
leave the bridge until everyone got off safely, even deferring to people who
had gotten to the bridge Wed a.m. and, although inconvenienced by loss of
power and weather damage, did have the luxury of some food and some water as
late as Tuesday evening. This guy waited on the bridge until dusk, and was
one of the last boats out that night. He could have easily not made it out
that night and been stranded on the bridge alone.
3.) The third story may be the most compelling. I will not mince words. This
was in a really rough neighborhood and we came across five seemingly
unsavory characters. One had scars from what seemed to be gunshot wounds. We
found these guys at a two-story recreational complex, one of the only
two-story buildings in the neighborhood. They broke into the center and
tried to rustle as many people as possible from the neighborhood into the
center. These guys stayed outside in the center all day, getting everyone
out of the rec center onto boats. We approached them at approximately 6:30
p.m., obviously one of the last trips of the day, and they sent us further
into the neighborhood to get more people out of homes and off rooftops
instead of getting on themselves. This at the risk of their not getting out
and having to stay in the water for an undetermined (you have to understand
the uncertainly that all of the people in these accounts faced without
having any info on the rescue efforts, how far or deep the flooding was, or
where to go if they want to swim or walk out) amount of time. These five
guys were on the last boat out of the neighborhood at sundown. They were
incredibly grateful, mentioned numerous times 'God is going to bless y'all
for this'. When we got them to the dock, they offered us an Allen Iverson
jersey off of one of their backs as a gesture of gratitude, which was
literally probably the most valuable possession among them all. Obviously,
we declined, but I remain tremendously impacted by this gesture.
I don't know what to do with all of this, but I think we need to get this
story out. Some of what is being portrayed among the media is happening and
is terrible, but it is among a very small group of people, not the majority.
They make it seem like New Orleans has somehow taken the atmosphere of the
mobs in Mogadishu portrayed in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down," which
is making volunteers (including us) more hesitant and rescue attempts more
difficult. As a result, people are dying. My family has been volunteering at
the shelters here in Houma and can count on one hand the number of people
among thousands who have not said "Thank You." or "God Bless You." Their
lives shattered and families torn apart, gracious just to have us serve them
beans and rice.
If anything, these eight people's stories deserve to be told, so that people
across the world will know what they really did in the midst of this
devastation. So that it will not be assumed that they were looting
hospitals, they were shooting at helicopters. It must be known that they,
like many other people that we encountered, sacrificed themselves during all
of this to help other people in more dire straits than their own.
It is also important to know that this account is coming from someone who is
politically conservative, believes in capitalism and free enterprise, and is
traditionally against many of the opinions and stances of activists like
Michael Moore and other liberals on most of the hot-topic political issues
of the day. Believe me, I am not the political activist. This transcends
politics. This is about humanity and helping mankind. We need to get these
people out. Save their lives. We can sort out all of the political and
social issues later. People need to know the truth of what is going on at
the ground level so that they know that New Orleans and the people stranded
there are, despite being panicked and desperate, gracious people and they
deserve the chance to live. They need all of our help, as well.
This is an accurate account of things. JR would probably tell the
same exact stories.
Regards,
RB