Aug. 29, 2012 will be a date haunting our minds forever. It marks the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and now Isaac is another name Louisianians will loath until the end of time. When the hurricane was predicted to make landfall we all prepared for the worst and, during the aftermath, everyone looked for a scapegoat. Of course, nobody is to blame but Mother Nature herself. However, it seems as if blame must be placed somewhere and Entergy has become the scapegoat.
An apparent problem during the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac was the lack of power experienced by Entergy customers. People were in the dark for up to a week while store parking lots across the region were filled with Entergy workers and their stationary trucks waiting to be called for assignments. Many workers who traveled across state lines to help were sent back home because they weren’t needed.
Mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu was quoted at a press conference saying, “My assessment is frustration that they could have communicated better.” Additionally, Jefferson Parish President John Young was quoted on www.nola.com saying Entergy had moved at a “snail’s pace.”
For anyone who was lucky enough to have Internet access during the storm, they used it to post Facebook statuses personally venting about their lost power. People who lost their homes weren’t updating or complaining about anything, though they were the ones with the right to.
Complaining is part of human nature, and in times of hardship we look for someone or something to hold accountable. While it was certainly frustrating for those who lost power, so many other people lost much more than that. As I watched the news and saw photos of the massive flooding, I couldn’t help but think that people should stop complaining about being inconvenienced and start being grateful for not being under water. The trick is to stop complaining about things out of our control.
Whether or not Entergy is at fault shouldn’t be the issue on people’s minds. It seems obvious that the workers were slacking somewhat, but with the water still waist deep three days after the storm it’s hard to get in there and do the job safely. Thousands of southeast Louisiana residents are gutting their homes and trying to salvage what memories are left. So in times like these it’s important for the people of Louisiana to be thankful for their lives and property and not their electricity.