NEW ORLEANS - THE GRAPES OF WRATH

During the closing days of the Mardi Gras season, my old lady (R.W. as you might know her) asked me why I did not wish to participate in the festivities and refused to leave the house. My response was simple – the tragedies of New Orleans and more. As I looked with gloom at the crowds, I could not fail to remember the novel I was forced to read so many years ago, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. That novel of the Joad family and their attempt to overcome the devastation of the Great Depression was one of the most sobering novels I have ever read. Faced with the reality of the destruction of their crops and the need to find a way to live and support themselves the Joad family takes to the road as they travel to what they believe will be safety and a new beginning – California. On the way they find people who are returning from California having found no relief, they lose family members, and suffer other tragedies but somehow they continue on. In the final chapters we see some semblance of a future and an understanding of what can be done. As Katrina flooded this city, the Joad family and others are faced with a deluge that makes their future even more uncertain. Anger will give them courage. The rain will return wealth to the land instead of dust. The death of a newborn infant and his subsequent placement in the swelling rivers becomes a sign to others of the suffering of so many. We also see one character realize that one can put himself or herself in the service of the collective good, and that a woman’s feeding a starving man in an unusual manner shows that generosity and self-sacrifice are the greatest of virtues. Yes there is much more to this novel. In that novel are references to the bible and much more. Yet at this time to me it shows the state of New Orleans and perhaps the nation.

I see New Orleans as a dustbowl of disrepect for life, a city filled with hate, a city of corruption, and a city seeking to revive in the midst of the tragedies of Katrina and those that occur each day. However, like those characters in the Grapes of Wrath, we must allow our anger to become a united courageous effort, we must put ourselves in the service of all, we must expand our own generosity and self-sacrifice in order to renew this city.

Today the City Council held once again a meeting in which the main issue turned to that of race. Race is like the dust of Oklahoma in the Great Depression. Dust destroyed the crops on which the people relied. Dust caused people to leave their homes for better opportunities. Ethnic background issues will destroy this city unless the leaders and the citizens will face the reality that race cannot be a deciding factor in any decisions that are made. I read the hate filled postings on various sites and discuss them with RW and others. Somehow, we must take this form of dust that is hiding a valuable city, it must be blown away by the voice of unison, the voice that says we are one in purpose and we will no longer be a divided city and we will join together to overcome the violence, the anger, the division that has continued to destroy this city for generations, even before Katrina. Perhaps then the bodies of infants, teenagers, and others will not lie on the streets of this city. Perhaps then education will improve. Students will be encouraged to learn. Clergy will lead by example and prayer. Parents will see that their children learn respect for others and for themselves. Elected official will see that they represent all, not a select few. Perhaps, you may call me naïve and foolish. I called myself a person with hope. Let us all hope together.