Katrina Liberates the Chickens...

This will be quick and not too well organized.
I am trying to be positive here about recent events.
There is so much distressing news today that it is a real challenge.
But I think I've got it!
I am on an earthquake forum which, needless to say, is focused on the recent storm.
A poster named Sheila recently reported this little bit of news from the stricken Gulf Coast.
The post hit me by surprise!
It's just a line, but it felt quite good to read it.
Here it is:

"One chicken farm in Mississippi was completely flattened but all the chickens had their first day of freedom in their little lives...just clucking around the ruins and having the time of their lives."

I owned chickens once.

The farm where I kept them had once been a mass-production egg farm.
Scrawny beat-up birds lived four to a cage with barely room to turn around.
Years later, I bought two dozen Rhode Island Reds and set them free to roam.
It was a sight to see!
They were happy and productive and free.

So the thought of these liberated Mississippian birds rings a bell for me.
And perhaps, in a sense, they symbolize the true potential of this whole disaster.
That which was caged is now free.
The "system" that has tied us down is being shown for that cage that it is.
Restrictive.
With the infrastructure in tatters, what good are all of the modern conveniences we've grown to depend on.
When it is just you and the clothes on your back.
When your identity is basically meaningless.
When your ATM card and credit cards are worthless plastic.
All your important paper work lost.
Jobs lost. Homes lost. No one caring who you are or what you've done in life.
Just you and the elements.
What are the basics?
Water, food, shelter, life, health, happiness.
The "system" has let us down, but there is a whole new way of living out there just waiting to be discovered.

Or is it... re-discovered.
This is the task at hand... the Potential...
Follow the chickens.
They have found it.
They are the teachers now.

---MORE LATER---