The Sun Herald | 12/14/2005 | MISSISSIPPI'S INVISIBLE COAST

The Sun Herald | 12/14/2005 | MISSISSIPPI'S INVISIBLE COAST: "The depth of the suffering and the height of the courage of South Mississippians is an incredible story that the American people must know. But, in the shadows of the New Orleans story, the Mississippi Coast has become invisible and forgotten to most Americans."

Today is the 113th day of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Are you counting the days with us?

We are a determined people. We are an independent people. We are a proud people. Ask us how we're doing on any given day and we're gonna say, "Hey - things are better... They're getting better..."

And, indeed, things are getting better. Most of us who still have something like a home left now have electricity and running water. Many who lost their homes entirely have found some temporary shelter. The roads are passable now -- the thousands of tons of cherished possessions and essential items which is now referred to as 'debris' has been removed from most roadways. There are some grocery stores, some gas stations, some big box stores, and some drug stores open. Hmmm.. and now I'm running out of examples of 'better'....

Personally, our position has improved so much since August 29th that we find ourselves wondering what it is exactly that we were so worried about... It has something to do with adaptation. Yes, we still are living on sheetrock-dust covered concrete floors, but they are dry. We have no baseboards - the windows are roughed in with no trim to keep the cold air out - we are missing a few doors and a few more door frames... but we have a roof over our heads. Yes, our walls are still unpainted but we're so grateful to have walls at all we sometimes forget to mention it. I still don't have a car, but we are lucky to have been able to get anything at all to replace the two we lost. No, we still haven't been able to actually repair our upstairs - the cracked and peeling soggy ceilings, the ruined paint and floors, the corroded light fixtures.. the soaked and mildewed insulation in the attic.. not even the siding or the hole in the side of the attic has been touched... No, we never received a FEMA trailer although the house (which we have been living in since September 12th, incidentally) was deemed 'uninhabitable' by two different inspectors, but we're glad that we haven't at this point because perhaps that means that someone else... someone who didn't even have a house to deem 'uninhabitable' ... got theirs first.

But, I promise, things really are better.

I will quote the plea articulated in the above-linked editorial from the Sun Herald -- there's no better way to say it:

"Thank you. To every out-of-state volunteer, to every friend and family member who has sent supplies or prayers, we sincerely thank you.

And we ask that you do one more thing: Call your senators and your congressional representative and ask them to support additional aid for South Mississippi's recovery.

We couldn't have gotten off our knees without you. But we can't get back on our feet without federal help."