The other day I was at the America’s WETLAND Foundation Blue Ribbon Resilient Forums in Houma listening to a speech by a locally elected official. As I listened to how much we need to rebuild the coast of Louisiana and the consistent drumbeat of what this area means to the rest of the nation, I suddenly heard him say something that caught my attention. He was speaking about why we should care and what we could do to win the war to save our coast and our culture. Then he paused and said it was all of our responsibility to participate in the fight because “we, those of us alive, are the hopes and dreams of those who have come before us,” said Mayor Rand Roach. As soon as the words finished coming out of his mouth, I stopped for a moment and let the words sink in.

A speech about saving the coast of Louisiana suddenly became about something so much bigger. It was about respect, honor and remembrance during a time in our nation when the disrespect of ours bodies is cool, honor is looked down upon, and remembering the past is considered to be “old-fashioned.” As we Tweet, Facebook and text our way into the future without living in the present and surely not thinking about the past, it would do us all a lot of good to start acting like we are living the hopes and dreams of those that came before us. One of our Founding Fathers put it very eloquently when he said:

“I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.”               

– John Adams

What are we doing today to ensure that future generations will be able to move the human race upward on the ladder of progress? Have we stopped working harder today so that our dreams of tomorrow have a chance?

By 2100, the waves of the Gulf of Mexico will be licking the levees of the city of New Orleans, our children will be forced to move to higher ground, and entire communities will be lost forever. Instead of watching our region become the modern day version of the city of Atlantis, perhaps we should remember those who came before us because they didn’t build our community only to see it washed away by the waves of apathy and indifference.

Rebuild. Restore. Remember.

The last bite…

Courtney and I went to the “new” Bull’s Corner after the Andouille Pageant and grabbed a bite to eat with St. John Sugar Queen Chrissy Carter. We were feeling a little adventurous, so we ordered an item we’ve never eaten before, mussels! Yes, those little scary black shell oyster-looking things. All I can say is that we totally enjoyed them! They were steamed and soaking in a wonderful tomato broth seasoned to perfection and came with a pound of bread to dip! I give the mussels at Bull’s Corner 5 (out of 5) crumbs!

Buddy Boe, a resident of Garyville, owns a public relations and program management company and is well known on the local political (and food) scenes. His column appears Wednesdays in L’Observateur.