Some Lights Back on in New Orleans

Some of the lights are back on in New Orleans. This is only trival in comparison to the many horrific scenes we've seen in the last few days, but it does give us a bit of insight into the nature of "making things right."

Making things right in the case is going to be a long, arduous process of pumping out water, restoring order, and picking up everything that is broken. There is not going to be a sudden moment when all the news cameras come in and see everything fixed--quite the contrary, I expect them to be in full force for the next few months criticzing every relief and clean-up effort taking place as not being good enough. It will take little wins like this one (restoring some power) compounded with a lot of other little wins in the future to make things right again.

I'm sure there will be a blog like Arthur Chrenkoff's that will emerge to serve the purpose of gathering the back page news items which give a more accurate picture of the clean-up than doom, gloom, incompetence and failure (it won't be this one, as I don't have the time, nor the gumption, to sift through all the media rabble). It doesn't take a very insightful person to point out how much everything sucks. It does, however, take a particularly keen, an observant person with a little integrity to look through it all and point out where we can hope while others despair.

Anyway, here is an image of one small win: the lights are partially on in downtown New Orleans.

UPDATE: In the comments section, my "Michigan Cousin" tells how Detroit Edison is making a contribution to the above picture:

You'll be glad to know that you are remotely related to one of the workers who is putting those lights back on. Detroit Edison sent a crew of 70 to help out, and they are thrilled to be there physically contributing. They have already gone beyond the call, putting out their own money to purchase much-needed items for those suffering through this.

I'm sure there are an awful lot of businesses working with the relief organizations to make significant contributions like this one. If anyone knows of any others, feel free to share.