Pray for a moment

There is one day that we can all point to as the most devastating we've seen in our lifetime. For most of us, its the same day that occurred nearly four years ago.

But the devastation and destruction of Hurricane Katrina - and the emotional toll its already taken on me - is on par with anything I've seen in my lifetime.

Don't get me wrong, I'm hardly the victim.

Take, for instance, my cooperating teacher at Washington-Irving Middle School. She left last Thursday to take her daughter on a 17-hour trip to New Orleans to move her into Tulane University for her first weekend of college.

Upon arriving on Saturday, she was told to unload her belongings into her first-floor dorm room and exit the city. Mrs. McDonald - my coop teacher - reluctantly left her daughter with her roommate's family, who lives in Louisiana. At first, she was told that the students could reconvene at the school on Wednesday, so a three or four day stay at her roommates was feasible.

Now, the city is in ruins.

It's unlikely that the school will be re-opened in weeks, and the entire semester could potentially be cancelled. There are dead bodies, sewage and garbage floating in the streets of New Orleans, which lies 80 percent covered by the murky brown water. Caskets from past burials are also floating down the streets. There is no clean drinking water. No power. No way to enter or exit the city.

Mrs. McDonald hasn't heard from her daughter since she left New Orleans in a contraflow on Sunday morning. She was back at school today beside me, but it broke my heart to see her distressed about her daughter. Carol, the daughter, is her baby, and has never been away from home for an extended period. Now this. Belongings aside, Mrs. McDonald doesn't even know if her daughter is safe, and the heartbreaking part is, there are thousands and thousands and thousands of people in similar situations. Some of those situations are even more severe.

What's the point of this post? I guess I'm just emotionally distraught from a long day of worrying about a girl I never knew, and about countless of other people I have never met before.

Many people have lost their lives, and many towns along the Gulf Coast - some worse off than New Orleans - will take years to rebuild.

If you could, just pray. A lot of people need it.