03.09.2005

To my creators,

About week or so ago I thought I was a mere gust of wind floating in the atmosphere. A nameless and shapeless design with no significant purpose. I would aimlessly linger in the air while others before me proved themselves worth, receiving a name and leaving a mark never to be forgotten by the inhabitants down below. As I watched them rise to glory I waited impatiently until my time arrived. My time did arrive as you said it would. You promised me that if I fulfilled the task appointed to me all would remember me someway and somehow. I would be remembered along with the greats such as Camille, Andrew, Felix and Anita. Blind by this yearning I did not detect dishonesty in your words but I must admit that I am not entirely happy with the result of this remembrance.

As instructed I began my journey in the Caribbean. The Bahamas to be in fact. I formed my branches of storm above these blue waves collecting fragments of wind and breeze. I interacted with tropical waves and depressions. I felt power within me being kindled but I knew my full force was not yet unleashed. My storms intensified into a cyclone and I traveled westward to a land called Florida. I had begun to strengthen and the very first indication of my so called “gift” was beheld by those who were present. I had become a hurricane.

This unusual and surprising transformation began to make me weary and briefly weakened me to a tropical storm. However your words of might and memory encircled my mind and I gathering up myself to complete my task I emerged into the Gulf of Mexico and began to rapidly deepen my fortes. Over the warm waters of the Gulf I strengthened to reveal my true nature. I was at the peak of my rampage, the learned even call it a category 5 of some sort. Reduced in grit I moved swiftly southeast. As you would have wanted me to have acted I kept a maintained a steady tempest towards Mississippi.
Finally, the journey had worn me out to the extent that I downgraded in my performance and became a tropical storm. Being exhausted mentally and physically I scattered my last distinguishable remnants in the region of the Eastern Great Lakes. Lakes that provide sustenance to those who rely on it. Lakes that those inhabitants down below have faith upon.
I know you would prefer if I thanked you for what I have been able to achieve and to hereby end the account of my excursion. However you failed to inform me of the distress and loss that my storms caused. The loss of property ad life during the days that my fierce winds ruled out the cries of those who were trapped. I saw the roofs of tall industrialized structures being savagely ripped away with ease. Nothing strong enough could withstand the force of my winds and all that lay before me was a pile of rubble as I passed. I flooded an entire city with water and tears and ignored the screams of drowning men, women and children. I have displaced those so called ‘primitive beings’, I have separated families from their loved ones and taken life that I cannot give back.  Every being that walks, flies, slithers, crawls and swims has been affected my quest of discovering my true potential. Was it worth to destroy the lives of so many to discover the meaning of mine? Was this what you promised be to see and take pride in?

You may wonder why I complain, or you must be furious at my attitude of questioning your orders. It is quite humorous how these humans muddle through with my actions. The learned call me a natural disaster. A disaster that takes place because of the mixing of the right ingredients: wind and warm ocean water. Likewise I formed from the interaction of a tropical wave and the remnants of a previous tropical depression. The ones who side with traditional beliefs said I was a sign to convey the change in Mother Nature for the worst. They blamed themselves just like the ones who believed that I was cast upon them to express the wrath of God. Others accepted me to be an event of all three ideologies.

I must agree I did not mean to shower grief and harm by my presence. Unfortunately I realised it when it was too late. You were right. I must admit. You said I would be remembered, someway somehow. I am being remembered. The humans have “graded” me, have given me title and a name. I was once a nothing. I now linger invisibly just like a memory, passing by that which had fallen and now has risen beyond compare. Sure I’m not extremely honored of my designation by humans but I can’t complain. They at least know how to treat my worth in something called the “green stuff”.

From,

Katrina.