Not only do the people of Monroe remember Hurricane Katrina, but also Hurricanes Rita, Gustav and Ike.

Maybe the winds and the rain didn’t plague us in the way they did our neighbors in the south, but we felt the storms nonetheless.

South Louisiana is our heart, our legacy. When it gets hit, we get hit.

It’s hard to watch our fellow Louisianians in pain. They suffer; we suffer for them. Thankfully, we are in a position to help them when the worst arrives.

North La.’s people opened their shelters, their homes and their hearts for evacuees during those four hurricanes. We do it because we are in it together.

The same can be said on a national level. Our sister states helped us in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Let’s keep that in mind when it comes time for us to help those that helped us.

As Hurricane Irene tears through the East Coast, we have to remember that we are all in this together. We have to help one another put the pieces back together once the storm is through.

Petty regional differences should take a backseat to disaster. Let us always keep in mind that Louisiana and the whole of the United States of America is home to all of us.