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New Orleans will experience more floods, more fires and more hurricanes. They will experience devastation again, though hopefully we will never again see residents stranded on rooftops for three days. It appears the government, both federal and state, will not resolve the levee issue. And unfortunately too many people, even within the borders of Louisiana, simply don't care whether New Orleans gets wiped off the map. But New Orleans will survive, due to one simple fact: the determination and tenacity of its people.

New Orleans has always been a world all its own. One hundred and fifty years before the civil rights movement, people in New Orleans of all races attended church together, inter-married, and worked side by side in the Vieux Carre. They withstood government under the French, Spanish, and Americans, and their heroes defeated the British in the War of 1812, when the Americans in Washington saw their White House burned to the ground. Louisianans are called the Fighting Tigers not just because of their football team, but because even in the face of disparity, Louisianans battle to maintain their rich culture and lifestyle.

I spent a few days this past summer in New Orleans, primarily in the French Quarter district. While I knew this part of town had been spared from most of Katrina's devastation, I still was surprised to see just how well it had fared. Buildings built in the 1700's still stood. A few roofs were being repaired, and many businesses had closed up shop, but all in all, this historic center of southern life appeared much the same. Cafe DuMonde still dished out beignets to a huge line of customers, and the lights and music of Bourbon still poured out of the Quarter at night. The tombs in St. Louis Cemetery still stood, a memorial to all those who fought plague, yellow fever, and floods to carve out a life in this swampy, humid metropolis.

The levees should be replaced with a system proven to actually withstand a level 5 hurricane, but chances of this happening are slim. The wetlands should be restored to act as a buffer when storms brew, but funding for this is not likely to be approved. Building codes should be made stiffer to ensure that new homes are built to withstand high wind, but they won't be due to the overwhelming cost and need to rebuild quickly and get New Orleans' residents out of falling-down FEMA trailers.

None of these preparations will be made, yet New Orleans will live on. As the center of Louisiana's unique culture, and the site of what once was and should again be an important port in American distribution of goods, New Orleans is too valuable to give up to the sea. The residents understand this, and that is why no matter what natural disasters may strike, New Orleans will continue to rise up out of the ashes and be reborn.

Learn more about this author, Nichole Nash.
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