8/29

Sadness. Anger.

For a little over a week, these are the feelings I have experienced watching news about the events of August 29. Hurricane Katrina has left an indelicable mark on the United States showing the best and the worst in humanity. I'm sad because there are so many people who already didn't have much and considered "the working poor" now struggling to stay alive. Hundreds of thousands are now homeless and jobless, and tens of thousands have died. The city of New Orleans is mostly underwater and in utter ruins.

And people are angry. There was so much that could have been done prior to and after the hurricane but wasn't (and I hope to God somebody finds out why). And a lot of this anger is very well justified.

I'm just sick of opportunists taking advantage of the events of 8/29. I'm not just talking about the looters who are stealing things other than food and water. I'm talking about these gas companies who are gouging prices on gas (including heating gas for THIS WINTER), scam artists claiming to be charities who are stealing credit card information, and the city of San Antonio, TX who is using Hurricane Katrina as an excuse to permanently lure the New Orleans Saints to the city (I'm not mad at Nashville for temporarily wanting to house the New Orleans Hornets, but I would be mad if George "Snake Oil" Shinn decides to move the team there permanently after just moving it to the area from Charlotte [and not moving it to Norfolk, a city he just used because the area's gullible]). I'm sick of people using Hurricane Katrina as an excuse to justify their bigotry and hatred, improperly calling those left behind "refugees" (a refugee is someone who is escaping war and persecution, not someone who is escaping a national fricking disaster) and that New Orleans "deserved" this (I'm sick of these bigoted so-called Christians making the world think that ALL Christians think this way, and as a Christian myself, I'll tell you we don't).

I didn't want to write this out of the fact that I'm still angry, and there's a rule that you never do work when you're angry. I've seen the events of 9/11 almost four years ago, and the events of 8/29 is just as bad, if not worse. Like New York, New Orleans will rebuild and be back. It'll take time and it won't be exactly back to the way it was (numerous buildings and institutions that have been around for centuries have been lost forever), but New Orleans will be stronger. What should you do?

Give, if you can.

Pray, if you're religious.

Help, if you're strong enough.

Hope, if you believe in the human condition.

Love. We all have that in droves.