As Hurricane Ida reminds us, where we choose to work, pray, play and to call home can be a perilous area, even in November.

Along the awe-inspiring coast of the Gulf of Mexico, millions of Americans enjoy pleasures like coastal breezes, outstanding food, fishing, boating, and many other unique amenities of life.

But (the word that’s always in the back of our minds), no matter where you choose to live, there always will loom the possibility of disaster albiet catastrophe.

The unexpected fire, unprecedented blizzard, unparalelled earthquake, or the monumental flood just hasn’t happened yet.

Emergency experts say the key to survival is preparation. And, as Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike and others before have taught us, prayer, vigilance, preserverance, and resilency are just as important. Some folks have it, and some don’t.

I’m not knocking those waiting for the next disaster so that they can give up on the place they were born, or who no longer want to call the Gulf Coast home. But (the word again), for some of us – NO, we’re not leaving – at least not until the next mandatory evacuation followed by the predicted doomsday scenario, when the forces of nature force us out.

These last few weeks have been painful. Besides a “computer arm” (a cousin of tennis elbow, I guess) not being able to write about all the Katrina-related news that’s been popping up, and watching our economy suffer has been painful, too. And then to watch our government try to bail out Wall Street was enough to cause more pain.

To get back on track, some things are better NOT left alone, and hurricane recovery is never far from the mind of anyone who’s rebuilding. Just because Hurricane Katrina is not at the top of the media food chain doesn’t mean the issues are not just as important now as they were three years ago.

As recently as Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, issues known to exist in the aftermath of Katrina are apparently still stumbling blocks for hurricane survivors.

Things like unfit Red Cross shelters, hotel room shortages, re-entry problems, housing, FEMA problems, and the expense of evacuating are among the issues that still haunt hurricane survivors.

As another hurricane season winds to a close, let’s not let our guard down. Because the pain (or the karma) could come back to haunt us, also.