I have felt for the past few days that I should write something about the devastation in New Orleans caused by hurricane Katrina. Except I didn’t (and still don’t, really) know what to say. What has happened there is so saddening to me, and nothing that I write seems adequate or appropriate.
My initial reaction was, I’m sad to say, one of helplessness: “I’m so far away! I can’t do anything…” But there are many wonderful organizations that need funds for their efforts. The Red Cross is probably the most well-known. We gave a small donation to IOCC. It’s so much better than the rather lame, and very selfish “I can’t do anything…” We have also volunteered to house people displaced by the floods. No takers yet, but we’ll see.
On another note, all of the finger-pointing is getting kind of old. I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to take responsibility for something as catastrophic as this. That’s not to say that it’s okay to pass the buck to the next guy, but I do understand their reluctance to let it rest on them. If you are looking for a balanced version of the story, BBC has a pretty level-headed article.
One thing that each of us can do is take responsibility for our reaction – what will we do about it? What will we say? Will we help those in need? It’s frustrating when some of the people in charge of our cities, states, and even our country don’t act appropriately. Although we can’t control them we can and should control ourselves and our response.
Hopefully I’ll have a happier post next time, but I needed to write about this much bigger event first. Thanks for hanging in there with me, and please, if you haven’t donated your time or money or something yet, please think about it very very hard.
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