City of New Orleans

Quite unfortunately, I visited New Orleans only once, though I spent eight months in sister city Memphis, Tenn., in 1990-1991. The cities are both strikingly similar and starkly different, though that may never be the case again. New Orleans certainly had the better food. Oddly, I never visited The Big Easy during my time just upriver.

As a Partiots fan, I remember New Orleans in general and the Superdome specifically as the location of our worst defeat (Super Bowl XX) and greatest victory (Super Bowl XXXVI). It's always been that strange otherworld for us. After all, we never played the Saints all that often.

Troy Brown almost gave us an interesting situation to deal with. Brown was courted aggressively by the Saints early in the off-season. A New England favorite (if not hero), Brown would have required attention by fans had he relocated. We probably would have learned more about New Orleans and the Saints than we would have wanted to.

That's all changed, too.

Brown stayed put, and the Saints are on an indefinite road trip. "Everything happens for a reason," Brown said on WEEI earlier this afternoon. His family and his familiarity with New England were among the biggest factors he remained. How different his and his family's lives would be now. How different it is for the Saints players and families.

I believe this event will have a wider and lengthier ripple effect than did 9/11. Life has permanently changed for millions of people. The Louisiana landscape will be permanently altered. I wonder when I'll ever visit New Orleans again and what the city will look like compared to what I remember.

The Big Easy. I wonder if that name will ever apply again. The Big Apple has remained the Big Apple post 9/11, but this is different. In some ways, 9/11 was easier to deal with mentally and emotionally. There was an enemy at which to direct the pain and anger. Today's enemy is

Of course, I, like many others, would like to know where are all those countries we've helped when they needed us? Not that I expected anything from them, outside of their little sympathy notes, if even those. That's the difference between America and all those other countries. That's what makes America what it is. (Note: As additional information came to light, I have moderated my righteous indignation. See follow-up posted separately.)

It's unfortunate that there are those who are taking advantage of the situation: the animals that are looting and assaulting and raping, and the gasoline companies that are using tragedy as an excuse to extra gouge us beyond what they already are. No one said America was perfect. With any luck, justice eventually will prevail, and those responsible will be named and prosecuted. I hope without hope that there will be littler finger-pointing after the fact, but the blame game has already begun. Funny how most of the people pointing are the people who didn't prepare properly and ignored the evacuation orders to begin with.

America has often been called a great blackboard, written and erased, reinvented, redesigned and rebuilt over and over again. There's no doubt we will rebuild the Gulf Coast. Much of it will be redesigned. How much will be reinvented? It's difficult even to fathom the scale of the task confronting us. Thousands of square miles, millions of people, billions of dollars.

Whatever the case, chances are, despite the horrible irreplaceable losses, particularly in life, when it is redesigned and rebuilt, it will be reinvented in a new spirit -- the constantly evolving American spirit -- better than it ever was.

The thoughts of everyone here at Patriots Pulpit (actually, that's just me) are for all those affected by Hurricane Katrina -- New Orleans, the Gulf Coast and elsewhere.