Should I stay or should I go?

Twenty-three years ago, The Clash asked, "Should I stay or should I go?" Right about now, I'd like to ask Katrina that question. Those who have been through this drill know the feeling:

It's always tease, tease, tease
You're happy when I'm on my knees
One day is fine the next is black
So if you want me off your back
Well come on and let me know
Should I stay or should I go?

Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
An' if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know...¹

Why this angst? Roy Blount, Jr., an astute observer of New Orleans, does a better job explaining it than a native could:

New Orleans is nobody's oyster. It is situated, however, like a served-up oyster—the half-shell being the levees that keep Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River from engulfing the city. New Orleans lies several feet below river and lake level, and it sinks a little farther every year. When the big hurricane hits—and it will, New Orleanians assure you, with what suffices locally for civic pride—the waters will finally rise over the shell and inundate the town, killing tens of thousands.²

And what does Blount hear natives say about this inevitable catastrophe?

"I hope it won't [happen], but if it does I'd hate to miss it."³

So maybe now you understand the indecision—or maybe you don't. Hell, I don't.
__________

¹ The Clash, Should I Stay or Should I Go?
² Roy Blount Jr., Feet on the Street 13 (2005).
³ Id.

Comments

[Just_Is]

I'm writing on behalf of a woman in New Orleans who is in dire straits. She is the only caretaker of an elderly mother and her brother who was just released from the hospital to her care. He's terminal. I'm a member of a crisis preparedness website and I'm appealing to anyone who lives in or near New Orleans to help us help her. I've called the New Orleans Police Dept. and American Red Cross with negative results. Please post any suggestions or organizations that do emergency evacuations for people such as this woman. Please. Join our mission to get this woman, her mother and terminal brother out of New Orleans. Please.

[Dave!]

I hope that you went. But either way, I hope that you and Suzanne are well sheltered from the storm. Stay safe, you'll be in my thoughts...