It's Just a Shot Away

I've been watching the two New Orleans/Hurricane Katrina episodes of "Nova" and "Frontline" on PBS. I can't say I've been enjoying them since they just manage to get me all riled up, once again, over how the response to the disaster was handled (and we're talking about PBS programming here, so that's to be expected) but I have found them pretty fascinating viewing.

Watching them reminded me of some of my initial reactions to the whole thing, such as hearing reports of people getting raped and killed in the Superdome, and how that was just so unfathomable to me. Like, you're sitting in a stinky, cramped, boiling hot sports arena, hungry, tired, dirty, most likely with no home to return to, so what do you decide to do? Go rape somebody. The hell? And I also rememberd how, at the time, that whole thing just got a refrain from the Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter" stuck in my head: "Rape, murder, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away."

I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but if there is a theme song for Katrina 2005, it's definitely "Gimme Shelter." To wit:

Ooh, a storm is threatening my very life today
If I don't get some shelter, yeah, I'm gonna fade away.
War, children, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away
War, children, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away.

Ooh, see the fire is sweeping, our very streets today
Burns like a red coal carpet, mad bull lost its way.
War, children, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away
War, children, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away.

Rape, murder, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away
Rape, murder, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away
Rape, murder, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away.

Mmmm, the flood is threatening, my very life today
Gimme, gimme shelter or I'm gonna fade away.
War, children, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away.
It's just a shot, away, a shot away, a shot away.

I tell ya, love, sister, it's just a kiss away, it's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away, it's just a kiss away, kiss away, kiss away.

One other thing I learned about "Gimme Shelter": On this recent trip to Disneyland, I had to set the radio alarm clock one morning to the ungodly hour of 5:45am. When it went off, the opening guitar chords of "Gimme Shelter" were playing, followed by the "Oooo...oooo...oooo" chorus. And as Chuck can attest, there's probably no cooler song to be awakened by at 5:45 in the morning...