Forty Things

1. The Dream Center Church is the best shelter in the world.

2. The Dream Center Church is the worst shelter in the world.

3. If possible, and when necessary, seek shelter at a small town church.

4. If possible, never seek shelter at a small town church.

5. Hurricane/Disaster victims come in all sizes, shapes, and skin tones.

6. Those who decide to run a shelter should remember that hurricane/disaster victims come in all sizes and shapes, and should try to do better than their best to get a hold of clothing, underwear, and footwear for all sizes.

7. Hurricane/Disaster victims are well cared for and treated with utmost respect by those who open their churches, homes, and hearts to the victims.

8. Hurricane/Disaster victims are visualized as humongous walking dollar signs; hear the church say “Cha-Ching!”

9. Always check out where you and your family will possibly be spending your life for at least two weeks. If there are no adequate places to shower, then keep fleeing the storm and flood water!

10. Always seek a church shelter in the midst of a crisis; Christians promise to be there for the long haul.

11. After one week, your ass had better have someone else or somewhere else to turn to because by then the “honeymoon” is over!

12. Perverts flee to shelters, also!

13. I can't truly imagine how it feels to have to live in a real homeless shelter.

14. I am selfish; this is self-explanatory if one continues to read this list.

15. I miss, miss, miss, miss, miss the hell out of my home and New Orleans!!!

16. I want to go home!

17. I miss being able to hear from my love!!

18. I miss being able to let my love know that I’m okay!

19. I miss being able to let friends know that I’m okay!

20. I miss my PC and having access to The ‘Net!

21. I can communicate and get along with anyone, from a guy who would be seen as a “thug” with gold teeth, to a one-arm man, to a clean-cut well-educated man, to a small town woman with really bad teeth, to a petite, kind-hearted pastor, to a disobedient little girl, to a 400 pound woman, to a newspaper and television reporter…

22. I cried for myself more than for others.

23. I grew to cry more for others than for myself.

24. I hate hurricanes!!!

25. I feel as if I’ve gone through my own personal apocalypse.

26. I’ll be purchasing a laptop in the future.

27. Laughter is truly the best medicine.

28. I fear that some people will grow into drunks and drug addicts as a result of having lost their homes and jobs because of Katrina and the levee breaches.

29. I miss the hell out of my friends—both online and offline friends!

30. This disaster makes me want to get back in touch with a few of my long lost friends.

31. I care a lot less than I thought I would about the material things I lost.

32. The three most important material things I mourn for are family photo albums, my ton of writing reference books, and the hard and soft copies of my stories and poems rotting away in the floodwater.

33. As much as I miss them, I’m glad that my parents were not alive to witness this tremendous loss and devastation.

34. Some of the cleanest people fled to the Dream Center Church’s emergency shelter.

35. Some of the nastiest people fled to the Dream Center Church’s emergency shelter.

36. I’m sure that the gray hair that suddenly appeared in my left eyebrow is the result of the stress brought on by this chaos.

37. I understand why some people turn toward organized religion for comfort.

38. I understand why some people turn away from organized religion.

39. There are still some people who don’t give a damn about others.

40. There are still some people who genuinely care about others.