i'll always wonder

It's unfathomable to me -- safe, sound and secure in my bungalow home, cracked ceiling, funky basement and all -- that STILL, after six. months. people have no place to call home, and no idea of when 'home' will finally come to pass ... or where.

But that's the case for many residents of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. Oh, yeah! Four states' worth of damage -- not just damage, that's too mild. Devastation. It's important to keep in mind that New Orleans -- given the extend of the flooding and standing water from the levee breaks -- is receiving the bulk of the press (in the moment and still) but that the Hurricane Twins, Katrina and Rita, made their presence known along a HUGE stretch of the Gulf Coast, not just in one city.

The impact, of course ... the people and towns and communities affected ... is even more far-reaching than that coastline.

Throughout the country, in the early fall of last year, every conceivable space -- church, community center, abandoned warehouse, unleased retail storefront -- became either shelter, supply house, or hub of operations for those who hustled to do anything and everything possible to help.

And sometimes, as Newsweek web exclusive contributor Dan Cole points out poignantly, 'hustle' often means 'cut corners,' and that can have dire results.

It's an impossible task, crisis intervention. You want to help. Everyone wants to help. But who decides who gets help, and when, and how, and how much? And who decides who helps, and who tells them what to do TO help? And if you decide one thing now, will it come back to bite you in the hind end in a week, or a month, or six months? But if you don't decide, you're sitting there with resources in hand ... but what good do they do in YOUR hands? Impossible, yes?

The ache in Mr. Cole's "voice," even though this piece is dated October '05, still rings in my ears. Having served in a similar capacity in late September, working as go-between for First Christian Church (Tyler TX) and the Tyler Red Cross, trying to do whatever needed to be done to make the relationship work to the benefit of both parties and most significantly to the benefit of the anguished 'displaced' who were now (in whatever way, for however long) 'residents' ... when Mr. Cole says "I'll always wonder whether I could have done more." ... well ...

I will too.