As Posted on Sun, Nov. 06, 2005 The MS Sun Herald
The cities we rebuild will reflect the people we are inside
We are going to rebuild The Pass. I keep having these images overlaying in my mind. The old village… the destruction I see… and shimmering over it a new place like a mirage or spirit place yet uncreated! A place of possibility where we can create a new village more in keeping with what earth should be, what loving caring people are when they come together.
I keep seeing a village with no light pollution, where our ground light is so controlled at night that we can still see starlight. It was the night sky which fed and nourished my soul through all this disaster.
I can see a village with gardens everywhere – we were an arbor city, and many of our trees survived. We were and are a bird sanctuary. We should have bike paths and green spaces caring for people and environment. I would appreciate hiking paths like the United Kingdom, so well known for its touring vacations.
If we are going to invite tourists back, then we should have something here other than Wal-Mart. I would like to see U.S. 90 moved north, skirting our village, and all that beach and waterfront having less traffic. Bike paths here, as well… the heavier traffic moved north along the railroad which probably should move as well, sigh.
Some designer said we needed light rail because our railroad is loud! I just smiled; we all speak about how much we miss the sound of “our” trains.
The same designer said because so much of our village has been demolished we should “embrace Wal-Mart” and the possible mall occurring there. I believe what will rejuvenate our village is to have small businesses return – little shops and offices similar to what we had. We need our artists back, and little restaurants and a coffee house where we can gather (remember the cheeseburger site that fed us when no one else did and provided a gathering place for us to be together?). We need a little market to walk or bike to… our park for our children and ourselves… we need our schools.
My office still stands and I am still seeing patients there. We need services provided by those people we have loved and trusted for years! We need to re-create a home for each other, a home for all of us together.
I remember a man who sold stuffed crab casseroles door to door to help put kids through college. He made the best crab I’ve ever eaten – perhaps because it was made for love.
The village shimmering in my mind is built of love and caring for each other – just as we have cared for each other all through the aftermath of this storm.
I am always teaching: what is internal to us becomes externalized in what we build, how we live and work. That could not be more true than now as we choose what and how to rebuild. This opportunity to re-build is a chance to get it right for all of us. I suspect this is true for all 11 communities along the Coast.
