Hurricane Katrina American Identity Essay

Hurricane Katrina and American Identity

Eleven years ago Hurricane Katrina hit us, hard. The levees failed to do what they were made for. It was both a natural and man made disaster that was destined to happen and too late to stop. The damage has been done; the lives lost. But this storm, awful as it was, did more than destroy. The hurricane brought people closer as we cleaned up cleaned up after it’s mess. There were people donating, volunteering. It all just goes back to show our identity as Americans. It shows that even when we get knocked down, we always resurface, united as one, and if that isn’t our identity; I don’t know what is.

Now, as a three to four year old at the time, you can imagine what this would be like. Hearing

about it but not really knowing, because my parents were so determined to keep us from this kind of stuff. And it’s not like they would tell us at school, which was just starting a little over a week after the hurricane. Not that we would fully understand it. But my family knew all about it, I’m sure. It seems as though the whole world did.

So here’s what happened. Early morning August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina arrived on the Gulf Coast. As the turning category 3 hurricane struck land, the levees were breached. This led to massive flooding; floods that would not go away for weeks. The storm and flood racked up over $100 billion in damage. And the worst: more than two thousand people died. After the damage was done, and they called for volunteers and donations, and my family all donated stuff to be sent, clothes mostly. My grandpa even went down there to help clean up, being as busy and far away as he was. I remember hearing about this later on, a few years later and thinking, “Wow, that’s terrible. But also cool that so many people helped and grandpa was one of them. I wish that I could have.”

Again, this ties into our American identity.

It’s hard to explain though since we basically create it, and it’s ever changing. But I feel that in time of need, this is it. We never give up hope for better and keep improving to make our country a safer place for everyone. And that’s what we did. After the levees broke, they had to get fixed. And so they were, and because of that, our country is safer. After all those people lost their homes and evens jobs possibly, they needed new ones. And so, with time, they got new ones, and things got better for everyone affected over time. And now the question is, has this always been seen as our identity? Does our country still define

this?

I’d say that this has definitely always been our identity as a whole. All throughout our history we have defined this, whether it be pushing dreams to become reality, or combatting terrorists. In a way, it’s a part of the “American Dream” ideal. It’s what it means to be an American. It’s always having that hope for better, and determination to do or be anything. It’s what we have been showing as our identity.

In conclusion Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes in our nation’s history.

But, this storm did do something, and that was show our true identity as American people. When it got bad, we stuck together as a nation and picked up the pieces of what Katrina left, and found solutions. What is that identity you ask? It is that no matter what obstacles are thrown our way we can always get through it, with our determination, faith, and strive for improvement, united as a whole. Individually, we are able to create or own, be who we want and do what we please, so long as we are not hurting others. That is our

identity.