"I lost fear after Katrina."
New Orleans, 2009

D is an overly giving small athletic man who leads a community running group
I meet these men along my travels and always feel a certain sadness for them
Each one spends endless time giving to others
And seldom will any of those actions get any
appreciation

I know these givers claim to get pleasure in the giving
But there’s a subset of them that get drained and used their entire lives
I am not a giver
I try my best to not use the givers
But there are far too many of them offering me what I need

His neighborhood drowned during Katrina
“My entire house filled with water and the molds made it unlivable
A FEMA trailer was supposed to arrive any day
Eight months later, I was still without it
So I created a small home out of my carport
I put on additional sides, had a small camp stove and lived there
It was home
On my land
Next to my destroyed home
Which I chose to level to the ground.”

We wander the city park with its draping Spanish moss
I sit on a lion figure
Calmed by its presence
We wander the cemetery with its tombstones sitting on the earth
I sit on crumbling old steps
Calmed by age

A large duck flies at a couple, sending the man running
He continues to run even when the duck has ended its chase

"I lost my fear in Katrina,” he says driving to the lake for the sunset
“Everything that could happen, happened.”
I learn that over and over
Those of us willing to take risks and live
Have faced loosing everything
Or have lost everything
And now that everything isn’t anything .
 

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