My City of Ruins

[jackrussell]

http://www.loganbabin.com/City%20of%20Ruins.wmv

 

[WV Cowboy]

Unbelievable.

I can't imagine what it must have been like to be there.

 

[jackrussell]

Here's a post from a board I read by the guy that put together the music and images:

I'm the guy the made the video you are watching and posting. You can not imagine how much it means to me to read your posts (which I found through Google).

I made the "My City of Ruins" video about 2-3 weeks after Katrina hit. My town, which is about 47 miles southwest of New Orleans, was spared any severe damage. But I had some good friends in New Orleans. One of my best friends had 6-8' in his house and we snuck into the city about 10 days after "The Thing".

I can not begin to describe in words just what it was like. In his neighborhood, there were no people. No sounds. No dogs. No cats. No rats. No flies. No mosquitos.

No signs of life.

But there was the distinct smell of death.

I got home, threw everything I was wearing in the garbage (except my wedding ring), showered until I bled, then sprayed cologne in my nose. None of which helped get rid of what remains inside me today.

About 2 days later, I was doing some yard work, listening to my IPod on shuffle. I have about 1700+ songs on that thing and "My City of Ruins" pops up. I had heard it before but never really heard it like this. I dropped to my knees and couldn't stop sobbing.

For 3 days, I couldn't get the song and the lyrics out of my head. I could see the pictures I had seen on so many websites and the powerful words. I really couldn't sleep much. So I took out my laptop, stayed up all night, and made the video you showed here. It was really meant to be therapeutic for me. But I sent it to a few friends and then it took on a life of its own online.

I can't believe all of the people who have seen it. And I'm humbled by the responses that I've received. Especially from those who lost so, so much.

Unfortunately, the message still resonates because there is still so much suffering here. The country has Katrina Fatigue and Rita Amenisia (a storm that destoyed much of western LA and flooded 10,000 homes in my town).

So thank you all for keeping it alive. Thank you all for caring. Any small thing you can do to help is GREATLY appreciated. The entire Gulf Coast is suffering. Some days you can't stand reading the paper or watching the news.

But we're proud people and we want to rebuild.

We just don't want to be forgotten.....

Good luck and God Bless!

Hank Babin
Houma, LA

 

[TheKey]

Im so sick of all the Katrina talk. People forget that another devastating Hurricane hit just a few weeks after. My town was destroyed by Rita and no one talks about it. People need to see our problems too, alot of people still don't have homes.

As a side note, if you go to the second or third slide in the show and look in the upper left hand corner above the dome it looks like there is a man with a beard in the clouds. Someone was taking care of the people in New Orleans.

 

[jackrussell]

Im so sick of all the Katrina talk. People forget that another devastating Hurricane hit just a few weeks after. My town was destroyed by Rita and no one talks about it. People need to see our problems too, alot of people still don't have homes.

I believe the maker of this video did:

Unfortunately, the message still resonates because there is still so much suffering here. The country has Katrina Fatigue and Rita Amenisia (a storm that destoyed much of western LA and flooded 10,000 homes in my town).

 

[WV Cowboy]

Whether you lost your home in a forest fire out west, or you lost your home to a mud slide in CA, or you lost your home to a hurricane in FL, or you lost your home to one of the floods going on now in the east, it impacts you and your family the same way these horrible hurricanes have impacted each person in the gulf coast.

There are natural disasters all over the place. Each of those affected need our prayers and support.

 

[cowboyfan4life_mark]

Powerful.

 

[Qwickdraw]

I honestly don't intend to offend anyone...

but I can't help but think that between Earthquakes on the West, Tornadoes in the heartland, Hurricanes down south and East... a power greater than our own decides that things need to be removed and renewed at times by whatever means necessary.

Sort of our planet's way of cleansing itself and keeping us in check.

 

[TheEnigma]

Im so sick of all the Katrina talk. People forget that another devastating Hurricane hit just a few weeks after. My town was destroyed by Rita and no one talks about it. People need to see our problems too, alot of people still don't have homes.

This is nothing against you or the situation, but I think it is only natural that people with only general information would focus more on Katrina over Rita. After a quick look up of information, Katrina did $75 Billion in damage, killed over 1,800 people, and wounded a major city in New Orleans. Rita did $10 Billion in damage, killed about a recorded 120, and didn't seriously wound any cities the size of New Orleans.

However, they were both tremendous storms in their own right, and the after effects of both storms are still appearant today.

 

[TheEnigma]

I didn't see a whole lot of information immediately after Katrina hit, but I did have the blessing of going to Louisiana twice with a group of college students to basically gut houses. At first we went to Slidell a few weeks after the storm and the city was in horrible shape.

We later went in April to New Orleans, and the area we worked in looked like it hadn't been touched since the hurricane. It was really a sad sight to see. There were neighborhoods that had houses still filled with mud and ruins, along with what memories and objects they once considered precious. Some people lived in trailors mere feet away from what used to be their home and place of refuge. The X with numbers and symbols around it that can be seen at 5:00 in the video was on every single house. We were lucky enough not to see one with a 1 or above in the spot for human deaths.

I don't know if America will every truly understand how precious life is. We've been slapped in the face hard with the truth, but it still seems that many people just don't get it. Not even a hurricane like this can wake them up. While those close to what happened, or have seen the aftermath first hand will always remember, America in general will slowly forget. Its sad to think about.

 

[TheEnigma]

I honestly don't intend to offend anyone...

but I can't help but think that between Earthquakes on the West, Tornadoes in the heartland, Hurricanes down south and East... a power greater than our own decides that things need to be removed and renewed at times by whatever means necessary.

Sort of our planet's way of cleansing itself and keeping us in check.

Here is something interesting to think about. It may also be a little ironic.

Two hurricanes bombard a state leaving a wake of destruction. When we survey what happen, we see it as destruction. But as was the case, destruction was not the only thing that resulted. Numerous people stepped up to put forth effort to salvage and repair the destruction. In fact, alot of good was happened in response to the bad. Had the hurricane not hit, would the response that came happened on its own? Of course not.

In the end, because of destruction, a greater good happened. New Orleans may even be built back up by its people to be a better city than it was before. So it was through a weakened state, that the community became stronger. It had to become weak before it could become stronger.

 

[TheKey]

Yeah im not saying anyone here is guilty of looking over us. People fail to realize the ONLY reason New Orleans was so destroyed is because they levys broke. MS took the worst of Katrina.