What Hurricane Katrina Taught Me [View all]

[Aerows]

I went through it from start to finish.

I have friends, neighbors and family members that went through it.

When you see your livelihood, your home and in some cases, your family members washed away in a 35ft wall of water, it changes you.

It isn't a political event to me. It is a tragedy that I survived and hope no one else endures.

If you went through something you feel was worse, well, it probably was.

It's not about comparing scars, it's about finding the best ways you can to heal them.

Praying in the shower with my cat in my lap that the roof would hold while it seemed to be breathing won't mean anything.

Not to the person praying for their loved one that got sucked out by tides.

It taught me something though. I thought that most of the clothes that get donated don't end up in the hands of the desperate, and maybe they don't. But I saw people hand over coats, shoes, pants, jeans and everything that could help another.

Gratitude is just another word for loving each other enough to be grateful for what we have, and grateful to ease the burden of someone else that is suffering.

That's what Katrina taught me.