Just halfway through the first decade of the 21st century, we are living in the middle of one tragedy while we remember another just four years ago.

Whether at the hand of terrorists, an act of nature or simply human error, we have seen suffering that should be too much to bear.

Yet New Orleans and the coast &045; as was New York City &045; are resilient.

New Orleans will rebuild. The coast will rebuild.

But already one prominent politician has publicly raised the question about whether it is wise to spend money to rebuild a city that lies below sea level.

A poll of Americans showed more than half question that sensibility as well. Those comments, and that poll, sparked an angry response from New Orleans’ diaspora, residents scattered across the country while they await a chance to go home &045; or to make a home somewhere else.

Many New Orleans residents are anxious to start over, to rebuild their lives and get on with finding jobs and housing and going back to school.

Meanwhile, some are ready to return to their beloved city, to pick up the pieces and make it a thriving community again.

Those disparate goals recall the ongoing debate over whether and how and when to rebuild the World Trade Center.

But rebuilding New Orleans will be a much longer process, and one likely fraught with much greater tension than rebuilding several city blocks. We must ask hard questions about how to make the city safer now. It is just one of many uncertainties in the wake of a powerful storm.

Four years ago we began the struggle to define a &uot;new normal&uot; after the terrorist attacks. Now the new normal, for our community and the entire community of coastal residents, is one we will continue to forge together.

But out of that tragedy, out of that suffering, great things can rise: the powerful humanitarianism and heroism that has rescued survivors and helped them recover, along with the stark realization that so many of our fellow Americans live a hard life of poverty that needs our attention and our response.

And yes, amid all of the chaos that Katrina wrought, New Orleans and her neighboring coastal Mississippi can certainly rise again.