Come Hell or High Water

It's all been written or spoken or felt, and my little words can and will not do it justice.
The unfathomable happened yet again.

And like that other September tragedy, we found ourselves watching endlessly, voraciously. I could only explain to my Mother that I felt obliged to give those poor people a little of our time, our comfort, our prayers. That if I could do nothing to help them, I could at least be a witness to their horror, and not pretend all was right with the world...since it was not.

I found it ironic that the reporters were mostly clean and freshly made up--- while they interviewed mud-covered victims who claimed to have had no water for 3 days. I did wonder where the back-stage "green room" was for those in the media who somehow had access to the very items the victims were begging the government for.
And if they could broadcast the news to me, why were the FEMA and other officials claiming to not have a "full scope" of the disaster?
I do think we need to make sure all people in power positions have TVs, don't you?
Anyway....
I was infuriated to see the looters- and why in the hell can't they find a way to secure guns and drugs in safes that will not be opened by your common thug?
I was saddened to see the poorest people left to fend for themselves in New Orleans. And even sadder to see how disproportionately many of them were black.
I was sickened to see the babies, having held my own fragile little preemie's life for many long hospital days. That one was probably the hardest to not turn off. But I watched those babies and prayed, because I knew their mommies were unable to see them on CNN as I could.

Why there was not a show of force and commitment in getting people out of the area when the order for MANDATORY evacuation was given?
Why was it "impossible" for some to leave?
How hard would it have been- given that officials had over 2 days notice- to provide the very help that would have avoided- if not eliminated- the devastating experiences of the stranded evacuees?
I don't understand why every bus in a 300 mile area wasn't sent to pick up people BEFORE the hurricane hit. Why gas pumps weren't turned on and gas given freely in all the evacuating areas. The US Government would have picked up the tab... but believe me, it will be a heck of a lot less than what it's going to cost to care for those people now!
Sure, there would still be those idiot few who thought they would escape unscathed, who were too paranoid to leave their homes, or , as I strongly suspect, were aware that evacuation centers are not a good place to detox.

But those who wanted to leave should have been able to GET OUT.

And I DO think it's horrible that so many African Americans were victimized. But I don't put the blame on the racism--- this is a pure fact of poverty. And it should be a wakeup call for all of us that we have such a huge disparity in our socio-economic strata. But it's not racist, it's inequality and poverty.
And the middle of a national disaster is so NOT the place to start debating that.

Now everyone's pointing fingers and blaming whomever is on the other side of the room, the tracks, the levee. sigh.
Did you know that after Hurricane Andrew, the 1992 Florida-devastating hurricane generally considered to be the most damaging in recent history, and the benchmark for both revival and disaster management, it also took almost 5 days for the National Guard to get into the hardest hit areas?
Do you remember when the families of the 9-11 victims were holding rallies and threatening to sue the government because they felt the response was too slow in identifying bodies and releasing information?
Sure, help has gotten to some disaster areas more quickly- but you gotta have a place to land the helicopters if you send them, and if you can't house 50,000 citizens, where are you going to put the National Guard?

I just want to shake Jesse Jackson and all those who are using this situation as a forum for criticism: " Guess what- Disasters are never NEVER fully prepared-for! That's what makes them disasters. No one was TRYING to not feed people. No one was INTENTIONALLY letting people die. It was overwhelming and incomprehensible. And we're only human! "


Ironically, the anger pills have sorta kicked in for me here. If I am angry about anything, it's not what you might expect. I am frustrated with the media and the whiners who want the government to account for its actions during this crisis. Aren't these the same people who think the government is too "Big Brother", too in-our- lives already? The same people who bash Bush for butting his smirking puss into so many "none of his business" areas, are all bent out of shape when he takes a step back- if, in fact, he did?
Sorry, you can't have it both ways. I never voted for the man, and personally think he's done more to hurt this country that any other president in our history. I don't think he's the devil or anything- he might even be a nice guy at home with the folks (hey, I like his mom). But I truly think he's an arrogant, spoiled C- student who got a good PR guy and a lot of his daddy's right-wing, bible-thumping, oil-loving cronies to cover for his ignorance in exchange for a sympathetic president. Nothing more.
But even I can't get up the gumption to blame him for this disaster.

Whatever happened to looking out for yourself and taking RESPONSIBILITY for what you can... and just hoping for the best when that's really all you've got left? And when things go wrong, chalking it up to "life".

But, see, we are so arrogant. We, as a country, actually think we can, no, we have the RIGHT to do, be and have anything, don't we?
We are so young, so adolescent, that we still believe that anything is possible and if we want it badly enough, we can achieve it. That if we put enough money and desire into something, it can be accomplished.
That if we want it, we have the right to HAVE it.
Well, that just isn't so.
Sometimes it CAN'T. DOESN'T. ISN'T.
That's just the truth about life.
Sometimes the 5'1" guy can't be an NBA Superstar. And the blind woman can't be an airline pilot. I'll never be a fashion model, and all the money, ambition and wishing won't change that.
And all the money and good intentions can't stop a hurricane from destroying people's lives.
But, like adolescents, we are don't want to hear that.
Instead, we want someone to fix it.
We throw our tantrums, we file our lawsuits, we give our press conferences --- THIS IS AMERICA, damn it, and I HAVE MY RIGHTS. SOMEONE is going to PAY FOR THIS!

And that "someone" is you and me. It'll be in our taxes, our gas prices (don't get me started), and the loss of an historic area that will never be the same. We'll notice it in unexpected ways, businesses closing and people moving, or, worse, missing, it's bound to come back to you. And come February, Mardi Gras will be sorely missed.

But we also are paying in another way. The yelling and accusations, the racial undertones, the anger and frustrations of an exhausted people. We will pay with our brotherhood, yet again. We will be divided, again. We will have hate, again.
And that is the worst damage that Katrina will have caused. That is the devastating disaster; that we will not be UNITED in this time of sadness and need, but instead will be fueling the fires of divisiveness and outrage.
That we will be destroying the spirit of our own people.

Will anyone hold a telethon for that?