Yeah... you are very human for reacting the way you are. As a native of the area I appreciate it much.
I'm just stunned. I've been everywhere in NO multiple times. As we all feel down there, it's the town you don't necessarily want to live in but you also don't want to do without it. Now it's gone.
I've seen this coming for years and used to get pooh-poohed whenever I mentioned it. Right now... there's not a single "I told you so" in me. Just... stunned sadness.
Yeah. I really can relate to what you are feeling. And yeah, I've never felt that "I told you so" feeling, either, going back through my own memorylane photobook of events in my life. It all just stiffens my spine and makes me want to work even harder to help my neighbor Americans see what freedom, civility, and brotherly love really means.
Did you happen to see Richard Simmons on TV? He's from NO and said she is his other mother, "my other mother has had a stroke, and I can't reach her now." I thought that was a sad, but very true analogy. NO is not dead, but desperately ill and unable to communicate or help herself.
"Just... stunned sadness" describes it well.