blackout

how i wanted to be there, amid the chaos and challenge. reaction. struggle. communication. 50 million people without electricity. the images of people walking around in a daze, yet somehow coping, stunned me. the absence of looting or violence. the cooperation and patience for a situation that seems impossible.

i'm sure it wasn't as rosy as all that, but it would have been overwhelming to absorb all those dramas. perhaps it was a state of shock that kept everyone calm, an initial sense that something catastrophic may have occurred. an intense feeling to stand together against whatever it was. i'm sure this event, and it's reaction, is not altogether foreign to someone who's lived through any great disaster or war, but to north america's spoiled and seemingly senseless masses it was an impressive display of steadfastness.

these are the events i long to witness, to wander among the displaced in an attempt to understand this determination. to somehow document a million narratives of triumph and failure in my own desire to comprehend how humans continue to make meaning amidst struggle, or because of it.

{August 16, 2003 08:39 PM}