Writing a New Chapter in Houston's Story Together
Let the saga of Ike be remembered as a tale of true community effort
By MAYOR BILL WHITE
From grassy plains and tall forests, with big rains and ocean storms, strong hands and bold minds built the diverse and growing city called Houston, our home.
In six or so generations we crafted great neighborhoods, soaring office buildings, a space center and some of the world's leading hospitals, schools and refineries.
Yet, for all our achievement, nature has its way of reminding us that we are not in control. Hurricane Ike, and its aftermath, will put us to the test. We will show the world, and each other, that we can mend our city quickly, with the same spirit that helped us build it.
Hundred-mile-an-hour winds and driving rain shook our homes, felled our trees, filled our bayous and knocked out much of our water service and almost all electricity. Houstonians emerged dazed but alive.
And then we went to work. People took others into their homes. We shared water. I personally have seen the labors of tens of thousands of residents with arms, and saws, and chains, and sweat, clear streets and driveways.
We prayed together and complained together. Afterward, we will celebrate our freedom and diversity by sharing thousands of separate opinions of how someone could have done a better job. But we shall do it together.
We shall learn the hardships of the millions of Americans who lived in this climate before air conditioning, or "refrigerated air," as they first called it, and walked rather than drove, and lived at a time when the world moved more slowly, when "news" traveled by ship and train and telegraph. We shall learn again to appreciate modern conveniences and the sheer power of a community that now uses all its talents since we've transcended much of the legacy of racism and stereotyping. And we shall give thanks we live in this country today.
The complainers will be the loudest, and those who work the hardest will be the most modest. Surely, the same must have been the case 100 years ago.
The friendliness we are renowned for here is second only to our optimism. Certainly it's not in our common genes, because those genes come from folks from every part of every continent. But perhaps it can be explained by the fact that we are a city that looks to the future, not the past.
Because of that trait we tend to be good at business, because in business, and in life, we learn from experience and give each other a second chance when people stumble.
We will need all the hope our souls can muster over the next few weeks. It will take days to clear the streets and weeks to remove from our yards a forest of trees and debris.
The private company responsible for electricity service, CenterPoint Energy, should be held to a high standard for its response, but restoration of power for all will take weeks, not days, for many households. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will demonstrate its improvement over its low point during Hurricane Katrina, but we are likely to find that it takes longer than three years to eliminate everyone who thinks like a bureaucrat.
And once we have recovered, those frustrations shall pass. Some of us will be able to tell our grandchildren of what the great storm of 2008 was like.
We will recall the hardships and the recovery. We will show pictures where the trees fell. We will describe the gasoline lines and the feeling when the AC came back on. And most of all, let us share stories of how we helped each other through this mess. How the first to get their power back invited others into their homes. Much of that is history that, with God's grace, we shall make together in the next few weeks.
