[StBernard] FOUND IN TRANSLATION

[Westley Annis]

Laurie, I absolutely agree that "displaced" St. Bernardians should not be
held to a Kangaroo Court, branded with the Scarlet Letter "A" for
Abandonment, and run across the coals with guilt complex because they were
so badly beaten by Katrina. I particularly don't like the words Traitor or
Deserter as if choices were made in mass-hypnosis or consciousness  aimed at
the parish of St. Bernard that gave us decades (and lifetimes) of pleasure.
If St. Bernardians were forced into a cataclysmic decision because of
Katrina, it was out of necessity, financial burdensomes, loss of income,
school/work situations and in the case of small businessfolk, an immediate
sense to correct a grave problem--earn a living.

Some felt safe in their new situation/surroundings, enriched by a sense of
calm after the storm. After having dredged for months through a dastardly
environment to correct the loss of home, community and work, I can attest
that feeling better towards a complete recovery someday takes precedent to
many who claim to be stronger by "running the course" in a community
inundated by sadness, dispair and hopelessness which makes the matter
worsened by extra expenses for mental health. I praise those who could/did
fight it out to recover in St. Bernard, but St. Bernard is always in the
hearts of people who lived there and carry that moniker for the rest of
their lives in their new community.

It was out of necessity and not by choice, or they would have mass-migrated
decades beforehand if they thought just moving to Northshore properties
would make they more complete than not had the storm not damaged their
lives.

Hence, we're spreading the word in other communities, knowing we've just
stretched St. Bernard further in land-mass to communities in and out of
parish and state. We stand strong in the believe that God maintains a bit of
St. Bernard in us no matter where we live and how we chose to live out lives
from here on out.

God bless what we have left, wherever we choose to rest out hats and slide
our slippers because we simply do not need a physical land-boundary to be
called the greatest people in our nation (and perhaps the world).

--jer--