today is September 1st, 2005... it is A day of blogging focused on raising awareness of and funds for relief efforts to aid those affected by Hurricane Katrina. See here for more information, and here for the TTLB Katrina topic page. TTLB is a community website that bring web bloggers together... thank you N.Z. Bear, creator of TTLB, for the time and energy this project takes and for turning the full efoort of TTLB toward helping those effected by Hurricane Katrina...

I opening my writing for those affected by Hurricane Katrina today with a guest entry from a friend very much affected by this storm and it's aftermath... timdangerous is one of us here at Diaryland... a writer, a trucker, owner of his own company, a poet, a sage... a strong man, a sensitive man, a husband, a father, an inspiration to all those who know him... he lives with his family in Northern Mississippi and by the grace of whatever powers you may believe in, the worst winds and rains of Hurricane Katrina spared his community the worst of the tragic damage... perhaps it is natural as a human being of conscience to feel guilty when a profound tragedy impacts your friends worse than us, but we are also reminded how wonderful life can be when we are blessed...

in his first message, Tim attempts to convey the impact of witnessing the unimaginable reality that we all want believe could never happen to us... we go to movies as see massive tragedies... we can find pictures of disasters, the results of war, and fictional stories that we can view from a detached perspective, from the comfort and safety of our homes... but Tim has friends in South Mississippi and he drove down through the state to deliver food and supplies to his friends... before the news media realized there was hundreds of miles of disaster (not just the tragedy of the City of New Orleans), Tim witnessed the worst of the devastation when he drove down the path of the eye of Katrina...

we sit back and ask ourselves What One Man Can Do... we sit back and wonder what would happen to this world if a man tried to take his time on Earth and prove before he died what one man's life could be worth... most of us have never been tested by such extreme challenges as those Tim and many others are facing head on right now...

most of us do not even want to think about it...

I look in the mirror and see one...

but I agreed to write in support of the efforts to help the people trapped in disaster and I will give you what I can before taking a nap (since I slept just two hours yesterday)... in a community effort that is the best I can do to help today... I encourage all of you to write an entry today with the theme of supporting an organization that you believe can help the people and link it in your entry...

I've chosen The Red Cross...

many have chosen the Red Cross and many will hopefully provide the statistics, the numbers, the power and potential for aide that is the organization we know as the first response to any disaster anywhere in the world... no organization is ideal, but the mission of the Red Cross is general and specific enough to be more certain than most of follow through... clicking here is the easiest way to do something for the people effected by the storm...

the last several entries are my way of giving a little something more than the money and blood I can afford to give... I hope the words posted here in the last few days have inspired you to find a way to do something... I've been searching for personal web sites of people who live in the effected areas and leaving positive notes and that is what I encourage you to do... here are three hundred Diarylanders who claim Louisiana home... and Mississippi... and Alabama... the DLand search engine lists the three hundred most recently updated diaries of any city or state you choose... try it yourself...

you can reach beyond Diaryland by searching on other web diary, journal, or blog communities and still further by using your favorite search engine...

if you are stressed, feeling angst or guilt or helpless in your desire to do something to help, consider spending a few hours each day leaving a smile and a few words of support in notes and comments for the next few days, or weeks if you can spare the time... what the people most devastated by this storm need most beyond food and water and shelter is hope... those hardest hit need people to pull them out of the mud, literally... and those who have restored power and internet connections in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle are the ones who can reach ut and help their less fortunate neighbors pick up the pieces of their lives and rebuild...

they have a most challenging job, a diffucult place in this human drama... they, who have a way to continue sharing on the internet, have the means to help most directly, but also have the helpless feeling of being luckier than their neighbors, more blessed than their neighbors, saved from the worst of the trauma... they need our strength and support to face the world around them and help pick up the pieces...

leave messages and tell them how you feel about their courage... empower them to speak for you to their neighbors... make connections, make friends, and if you have the means, offer more tangible help... become the grassroots effort that saves lives, shares the wealth, and replaces the feelings of helplessness with feelings of giving and helping...

or just say hello and tell them they are not alone as they struggle to face their topsy turvy daily lives... this is the effort I support most... the true grassroots Red Cross... send love first, make that connection, then see where we can go from there...

all together now

. o O ( NOTES ARE THE NEW HAPPY PILL ) O o .
(just let me know you were here)