10/12/05
The Gathering Storm of People

oddities, observations, and opinions by Herb Kandel

Then:
Many knew it was coming, There were reports and signs of it for a long time. The ones who recognized the impending danger packed up and left, they knew that they might not return and if they did everything would be different. The ones who stayed had the mind set that the threat was exaggerated, had seen similar type situations before, or were naïve enough to think it would not effect them. Many packed what they could and sought refuge with family, friends, or even with strangers in places far flung. They took what belongings they could carry, some even had the foresight to pack and ship prized possessions elsewhere prior to the onslaught. This is the story if those who remained hoping that they somehow would be spared from the forces that were surely heading their way.
When it started it was so small and insignificant that hardly any but those with a predisposed interest in matters of that kind took note or even cared. As it spun more it picked up speed and was joined by more and more of the ingredients to make it swell. As the vortex expanded it combined many elements that hitherto would not have been part of it but the inertia of motion swept almost all into its path. The powers in charge mandated those who were still there to leave. There were no exceptions and whole families were moved out. Some who did not comply chose to seek safety in attics or places where the they thought the danger would not find them. For some it proved fatal.
Groups were formed by the authorities. The plans called for mass evacuation of the area so all forms of transportation were brought into play. After this happened the homes and businesses vacated were stripped by frenzied crowds. The people were herded to holding areas and then to staging arenas. Inevitably family members were separated, some forever. The conditions they had to endure were some of the worst they had ever experienced in their lives. Strangers were of necessity forced into claustrophobic quarters, food and water were a long time in coming and when available it was portioned out. Personal hygiene became a luxury and soon the facilities to take care of those needs were gone. The oppressive environment and uncertainty preyed on their nerves and altered many previously rational thinking. Some who could not cope took their own life. The ailing and frail succumbed quickly. There were many acts of kindness and some of cruelty.
There were people there who protested, others who waited docilely, while some were even denied border crossings to neighboring safe places, but all suffered the same. Some of the leaders of this exodus praised and congratulated those in charge of the operation but there were outsiders who began recognizing that all was not right. From outside of the turbulence there were those who did nothing, some saw what was happening and turned away, while a small number took it upon themselves to bring what attention they could to the plight of the unfortunate. It seemed that bureaucracy and politics were playing a major role in the impeding of help to those trapped. In the crowded mass the religious among them asked “Why?”, the others asked not but all sought equally some sustenance of life and some glimmer of hope. During that time many perished and the survivors carry the scars of the ordeal to this day.
It took the armed forces to free them from their misery. Those that performed the task would never forget the circumstances and conditions of those rescued.
Now:
There are those who say that during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that too much television time was devoted to the human suffering, the devastation, and the noting of ineptitudes. Yet were it not for the media coverage the outside world would not have known the magnitude of what was happening. One can only speculate if those same video cameras, camcorders, web sites, and other sources of getting happening events to the public existed during the above time, if the course of history would have been changed.
The time from the onset of that gathering of people until their liberation took over seven years, from about 1938 to 1945 when the death camps were found in Europe. And the only words that come to mind in order to convey the enormity of such cataclysmic events, be they natural or manmade, are those of Herbert Morrison. Morrison was recording for radio, in 1937, the landing of the Hindenburg airship when it burst into flame. He lamented incredulously at the sight of the disaster “Oh, the humanity !”. We can say the same of both events.