Yet Another Katrina Injustice

This blog is turning into a Dave Eggers Fan Club (see below). I just finished his latest book, a nonfiction story called Zeitoun about a man whose particular Katrina story makes you wonder how many different ways people can suffer from one cause. Well, no, from at least two causes: natural disaster and human failure. The first, the hurricane itself, was bigger, but it's the second that breaks your heart.

When Katrina hit, Syrian-American Abdulrahmen Zeitoun was running a successful contracting business and raising a family in New Orleans. As the storm approached he sent his wife and kids out of the city but stayed to protect his home and other properties he owned. After the levees broke he paddled around the city in a small canoe rescuing people, feeding abandoned dogs, and trying to keep his buildings from complete ruin. His wife, who eventually landed with a friend in Phoenix, kept urging him to leave the city, but he refused, feeling safe and useful. They talked daily, until the day she abruptly stopped hearing from him.