Oak Trees In the Ocean

For the past month, I have been reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Taking into consideration that I'm a slower reader and only read when I was in bed, I recently got through the part where the John Galt Line made it's first departure. Up to the point the entire country seemed to just be giving up and giving into the powers that are in charge and never really succeeding at anything; Except for Dagny Taggart who has brought the family train company from lack of destruction. She persevered through all of the doubt and dismay and all around destruction.

It just so happened that as I was reading this part of Atlas Shrugged, where Dagny succeeded and proved her brother and many others wrong, when I made a trip to Pass Christian, Mississippi to help with the rebuilding from the destruction of Katrina. The situation reminded my of Atlas Shrugged. So many people are in dismay about the storms and don't know what to do next with the rebuilding. Many are at the point of just giving up and never trying to rebuild there beautiful city. I've often heard that they just shouldn't build down on the coast (which I probably agreed with until this trip). But even though there's a lot of people willing to give up, there are still a few that are determined to work to rebuild their beautiful city. It made me wonder what this world would be more like the Dagny Taggart's on the Gulf Coast that are striving to succeed at something that many others say is impossible. And, yes, much like the long time that it took me to read the 100 pages about building the railroad, rebuilding the towns in Mississippi and Louisiana will not be a short process and may even take years to accomplish, but it can be done.