We stand defiant in the face of a Universe that seems hell-bent on wiping us out
Since the hurricane hit the other week, there has been a LOT of talk about what the next
The rebuilding of NO is both an economic need, and would be a sort of testament to our own determination and strength as human beings... a sort of "Screw you Universe! You can keep wiping us out, but we'll be back!" Now, there's something to say there about the relative intelligence of that attitude, but look at anyone who has ever lived in a disaster-prone area. Shit falls down; they put it all back together. We are actually strengthened by disasters and tend to come back from them stronger than before.
It is human defiance in the face of the Universe. We do it often. Earthquakes and mudslides in California, horrible droughts in the Midwest, flooding along the Mississippi River, Tornado Alley, Hurricanes, Nor’easters etc... Hell, even man-made disasters bring out this defiance, just look at NYC after 9/11. How much money has been poured into that memorial? How much money is poured into all of these regularly affected areas?
We will rebuild NO not because it makes sense, or because it’s the sensible intelligent thing to do, but because failing to would represent a profound failure on our part as a society. We’re rebuilding the South Pacific area after it was ravaged by a horrible Tsunami. Many of those islands were just barely at sea level so they were pretty much wiped out. Those are places are subject to annihilation if sea levels change even slightly. Should that region be abandoned because the next tsunami will just wipe it all out again?
Civilizations exist to provide their members the greatest possible stability and protection from the world around them. When something breaks, or goes wrong, the people around you usually help you put the pieces back together. City burns to the ground? Hey, that was your home, let’s put it back together. Neighbors help neighbors and lessons are typically learned about how to build the city better next time, more resistant to fires. Look at building code in London now after the great fire that torched most of the city. There are rules now on how far apart buildings must be from one another. Buildings in earthquake zones now need to be built special for their environment. We went through some tough times where everything just got torn apart by quakes, but we always picked up the pieces and built things smarter the next time.
To abandon NO is to admit defeat, and casts doubt on the idea of rebuilding other disaster areas in the future. I mean, if we abandon NO, why don’t we abandon Tornado Alley, or people who live in flood plains? Those people get wiped out a hell of a lot more often than NO has from hurricanes and flooding.
We will rebuild New Orleans, as we should. However, this time hopefully we’ll do it smarter, better. We know things about architecture, engineering and ecology that we didn’t know 200+ years ago. We can build it now so hopefully it won’t sink into the ocean, and maybe we can build a better levee system.
Humans have always rebuilt in the face of disaster, even when it might be more efficient to leave and build elsewhere. It’s just what we do.