leaving Pass Christian

1:15 PM – Started heading out of Pass Christian on Menge Avenue.

Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know. – Lao-tzu

There is a guy in the library speaking stridently and loudly about what he believes about God to a group that is sitting in a circle with him. So far, he’s explained — in a mocking tone — that since God is sustaining the world, all of these people who talk about global warming and how the glaciers are going to melt just don’t understand. You see, there’s no need for all of this “the sky is falling” talk.

He went on to explain that the Muslim god, Allah, is unknowable. He said, “isn’t that depressing? I think maybe I’d strap a bomb to my chest too if my god was unknowable.”

The world is indeed taking care of itself. Everything is proceeding as normal. If you want to call it a plan, that’s fine. But to absolve ourselves of our responsibility to care for our fellow human beings by being stewards of the environment is a far greater sin than any I can imagine. The world will go on, with or without the human race and most of the species on it. Whether this gentleman ever pulls his head out of the sand remains to be seen. I can only hope that the group that’s listening to him will not unquestioningly accept what he’s saying.

Here’s my opinion: If you have to take a side and say that your beliefs completely invalidate someone else’s, if you won’t find the common ground among all of the world’s religions and work with your brothers and sisters to better their lives and spirits, if you don’t understand what is meant by universal precepts such as the Golden Rule, then shut the hell up and get out of the way of those who do.

last morning

This is my last morning in Pass Christian. It’s raining softly through the light fog over the gulf. I woke up at about 5:30 and came down to the pier for some final photos and quiet reflection.

installing the Dinwiddies’ panel

We’re at the Dinwiddie residence, working with Ed to install a subpanel on the exterior of the house. There are several varieties of vegetation here, including a stand of bamboo that was pushed over by the water and wind.

camelias

I took some photos of the camelias behind the library.

almost ready for the kids

The child care tents are now completely roughed in (electrical).

FEMA food

We just finished eating lunch at the FEMA food tent next to the child care tents. We ran into Malcolm and Chris Dinwiddie and Malcolm’s son-in-law Ed there.

the Russ residence

We just finished working at David Russ’s house.

almost ready for wiring at the tents

The child care tents are coming along pretty quickly.

Happy birthday, Luke!

We had lunch at Pirate’s Cove, a food service trailer across from the FEMA tent village. The food was great; that, combined with the fact that they’re the only place within walking distance of the tent village where one can get a tasty burger or a poboy, means that they’re probably making a small fortune running the place.

Luke turned 31 today, so we had a picnic behind Pirate’s Cove to celebrate.

After lunch he headed back to his job site on a bulldozer. Sam Howard found a foreign coin — it appears to be an Italian lira — near the tent village.

There are many names for a porta-potty, but I’d say this one ranks up near the top.