New Orleans blues

The weekend was spent trying to absorb the sheer volume of misery and hardship being visited on residents of the city of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. One bright spot was that many colleges around the country are opening up their rosters to displaced college students. Another is that Massachusetts was one of the first states to offer refuge to people who have lost everything. A group of about 2500 newly homeless people will be arriving this week on Cape Cod; area schools and civic leaders are rallying to welcome these survivors. While classrooms in Bourne and Falmouth may suddenly become more crowded, surely the example of compassion and unselfishness that those children will witness and participate in will be worth any temporary inconvenience.