New Orleans

I keep hearing about rebuilding New Orleans & how people want to return & rebuild their homes. I think they are crazy!

C'mon. You're not living at AT sea level but UNDER sea level and in an extremely hurricane prone area. You also know that your protection from flooding (the levees) cannot withstand anything over a Cat 3 storm. You know that when (not if) a hurricane hits, everything will be destroyed.

Then, the eventual disaster occurs and everything is gone. Now you say you want to go back? Let's make something clear here.

Going back, implies repetition.

Let's try that again since you appear to be so fond of it.

Going back, implies repetition.

You want to return and repeat what just happened to you in a later period of time? Is this logical? I mean, if you run red lights and you get a few huge tickets, then due to the negative consequences of getting fined, you stop running red lights. What's the difference?

Granted, one reason could be sentimental attachment. Per Buddha, and the Four Noble Truths, tanha is a cause of suffering. Further analysis of Tanha, reveals that worldly desires cannot be fully satiated or satisfied, due to their impermanent nature.

I don't quite understand why so many people are attached to their homes. It's just a building where you spent some time. Go spend some time elsewhere. You'll get attached there also. Then what the fuck are you gonna do?

Me? I'm attached to my hands, teeth, feet, my head. You know, things that are really attached. I'd fight tooth & nail to keep my teeth & nails. If all else fails, I would certainly go to a dentist or manicurist to have them rebuilt but then again, I, by necessity(and preference), have to carry my attachments with me. Those types of attachments I can understand. Attachments to places that will be destroyed again, I don't quite get.

The disaster was a natural event. Shit happens. When bad shit happens, get out of the way. If bad shit keeps on happening or you get tired of the shit, you know what? YOU MOVE AWAY FROM THE SHIT!

I hear you know, "But the history of the place. That's where jazz was born...." etc, etc. You remember Atlantis? There's another city that was below sea level, the sea came in and the city
was gone. Nature happens. We have to deal with it. We humans have this obsession with stability and maintenance. Endangered species? Fuck 'em! Let them die! That's nature! How many species have become extinct before us? Based on the history of the planet, about 99%!! So what if we are the cause of a few extinctions? We are part of the planet and we'll probably be extinct eventually also. Nature happens! Deal with it.

So we spend $3 billion to rebuild New Orleans better than it was before. Do you really think that the city will be around in 1,000 years? Nope. Most of cities won't be here by then. I say spread the wealth give the people the money. If you want to move back to living UNDER the sea, the place that took our species millions of years to get out of in the first place, go right ahead. Go back to living next to our degenerate genetic cousins from the ocean, you guys are a definite pothole in the road to evolution.

Don't spend $3 billion rebuilding a city. Spend $150 million on Uhauls and get the people out of there.

OK OK so what if I live in Miami? I KNOW there are hurricanes. I EXPECT hurricanes. I HAVE insurance. If my home gets completely destroyed by a flood or hurricane and I lose everything I have, I'll just move away. No big deal.

My thought process would probably go like this:
Me: "Shit, I'm fucked!"
Me: "But at least I have my teeth and nails!"
Me: "I do have my teeth & nails right?"
(I check my body parts.)
Me: "OK, let me get my insurance money and get away from this place."

You see that? No big shakes, no big drama. Just go where it's safer. Let's repeat that.

Just go where it's safer.

It's a great simple rule. That simple rule has actually allowed our species to propagate and has helped develop into a relatively decent level of civilization. Let's not turn our back on our tried & true friend. It has helped us unwaveringly though the countless eons. Through think and thin, the people that always survived followed that rule. Let's do them justice. In their memory, c'mon now,

Just go where it's safer.