New Orleans Civilization

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “The true test of a civilization is not its census, nor the size of its cities, but the kind of man it turns out.” No city but New Orleans knows that better, for its denizens now represent its former glory all over the country. New Orleans itself however, is not a place that can turn out good types of men anymore.

The reason why? Post Katrina, the population is not even half of what it was. And when one drives down the streets, one sees trash and debris piled into mountains on curbs . . . . hills of waste that are never carted away. Today I assisted in a neighborhood cleanup and I was deeply saddened by what I saw. There were beer bottles and paper bags everywhere. There was plastic covering and batteries, bottles of detergent and food . . . . obviously people had stocked up for the hurricane. The worst part by far though was people’s memorabilia that they had tried to protect. I found personal letters that someone had saved and a large icon of Mary that had miraculously remained unscathed. But all that too was thrown away. It was like we were throwing away parts of these folks’ past and we wouldn’t be able to fill in the holes when they came back and realized everything was gone.

The neighborhood itself was mostly abandoned but for a few people that lived in one of the houses in the area we cleaned. The people that drove by either waved or gave us strange looks. It’s a helpless feeling knowing that someone else is taking care of your neighborhood because they think you can’t do it yourself.

And then we saw two children walking down the street. It occured to us that they have to grow up on these streets we clean.

What will happen to these kids? Can New Orleans still pass the true test of a civilization?
With kids from Tulane and other colleges dragging themselves out of bed in the morning for a couple of hours, maybe it is in fact possible. When we left, we looked back on our work, at streets that were a lot cleaner. New Orleans needs a fresh start, and it needs fresh faces to give it just that. So to all of you– there are always opportunities to help out! Please do, because New Orleans needs us to absolve it of Hurricane Katrina’s still horrific effects.

New Orleans is a civilization not lost yet.