I had an emotionally hard day today. I have been trying to "deal" with Katrina as all of us have been in our own ways. It is hard to wrap your brain around something of this magnitude being so close to home. I have been bombarded with images that haunt me and that tear at my very soul. I have spent countless hours dwelling on their circumstances, praying and crying.
Today was the final straw as I learned of how people are choosing to react during this tragedy.
I know a lot of people think that leadership and the government did a poor job if any job. I for one just don't know if I could have done any better. Now, I am not saying I agree or disagree with how this was handled by government officials. All I really know is I honestly don't know if I could have done a better job. Is there really a precident for them to know how to handle a natural disaster of such magnitude?
I also wonder how many people brought some of the aftermath tragedy on themselves by refusing to leave? I know this is their home and I understand that it would be hard but home is where your heart is and there are children dying in the streets because their moms and dads didn't want to leave a place. I also know that I can't say for certain what I would do or how I would react were I in the same situation they are so I am not judging them. I have no place or right to.
These issues aren't what really bothers me about the whole thing. What really bothers me is this: People are using this as an excuse to do whatever they want to whomever they want. I can understand stealing food from the grocery store down the street in this situation but...I don't understand the need to be stealing jewelry or what have you. I didn't realize having diamonds were a survival item. What does raping people have to do with survival?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??
Why are they finding it necessary to be raping babies?!!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!? People are dying around them and all they can think of is raping someone.....Oh, God, help us to understand. Help us to help. Give us the means and the willingness to help!
These people don't just need sympathy! They need prayers, money, blood, food, water, medicine, diapers, baby food, formula, soap, blankets, clothes...! They don't need people standing around the water cooler talking about what is happening to them; they need people to stand up and do something!!!
Dominique has had a wonderful idea. (You can get to her website through a link on my blog.) She is going to be fasting beginning this Friday and ending this Sunday (Sept 9 to Sept 11) and any money she would have spent on food for herself that entire time is going to be donated to Katrina victims. I urge you to think of doing the same or something similar; it doesn't have to be this weekend. Pick your own time but please do something. What is $30 going to do? By itself, not much but, it will do something and joined with other's $30 we can do wonderful things. It won't make a big difference but it will make a difference!!! Right now New Orlean's can't afford for us to think that what we can do will not make a difference. Every dollar adds up!!! Think about it; pray about it but don't do something just because you think you won't matter.
I, like Dominique, am having a bit of an issue wondering how we would react if it were us and not them. Would my neighbor be harming me or my children? Would the teacher down the street who we baked cookies for when she had her back operation turn on us or would she help us? How would our society behave? Would I lose faith if I were in the midst of all that terror or would I be able to stand true and strong in my faith to God? I sure hope that I would. So many questions run through my mind and I just can't seem to wrap myself around them...
The one thing I would really like to leave with is to please, please think of how you can help. Just remember, a small way is still a way... $5 to someone with no dollars is a lot....
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4 comments:
i pray daily to give the people devistated by this and all disasters the power and strength they need to keep on living ang the hope that soon they can continue with life in a productive and meaningful way
"I also wonder how many people brought some of the aftermath tragedy on themselves by refusing to leave?"
The problem is, many of the people were left because they were a) too infirmed to move (ie had oxygen or dialysis and had to stay put) or b) didn't own a vehicle or have the money to buy means out of town.
Unless we understand what it's like to live far below the poverty level, we can't judge these people. They did the best they could in a heart-breaking situation, and blaming the victims is really inapproporiate. It just isn't that simple.
I think you may have missed part of what I said though. I said I am not in that situation and therefore cannot judge them. The people I am thinking of are those who are capable and the ones who are just refusing to leave because it is where they live.
Please don't think I am blaming anyone for what has happened...what I was meaning was the few that are just being stubborn and then running around destroying people...for lack of a better word...
Sorry if it came out wrong; I was highly emotional at the time and not really thinking about what or how I was writing what I felt...
Yes, it is rather mind boggling how many who could have, didn't leave. Some of those folks are more stubborn than my kids...go figure! ;)
My friend put some interesting perspective on that for me this week. She used to live in Australia where they got typhoon warnings constantly. She said it got to be so commonplace that nobody took them seriously anymore. That may have been a factor for the coast. Add to that the inevitable sense of "it will never happen to me" that comes over all of us humans and it's a recipe for disaster.
:)
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