A Belated Reality Check
Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas, 21 Sept:
Hmm. Free will. Ouch.
For more ouch, reference this. See what you think. Drop me a line if you don't want to comment here.
But either way, this much is no joke: Literally everyone i've talked with about Katrina here in Europe honestly thinks George Bush personally caused the catastrophe in New Orleans. These aren't people who hate him or anything; they don't even necessarily know much about the whole thing. They just believe what they're told. (Interesting that even Bill Clinton was appalled at the BBC's coverage, for instance.)
The mentality of sheer entitlement we've slid into is frightening to me. My heart broke for the poverty-stricken and homeless who were physically and financially unable to evacuate New Orleans before Katrina. And it was indeed the responsibility of the rest of us - whether church or government, to beg a big debate - to take care of them, and we failed. But i too have friends and relatives who are homeless right now because of Katrina, and others whose entire livelihood was destroyed, leaving them with almost nothing but their lives and one another. And their response? To give. Many of them are reaching out to their neighbors as we speak, even as another terrifying Category Five looms in the Gulf. And i know still others who have traveled a long way, at their own great expense, to lend a hand. From what i've heard, the destitute Thai and Indonesian villagers hit by the Southeast Asian tsunamis responded similarly. They helped each other find food. They cleaned up their own neighborhoods. They didn't rob, beat, or rape the tourists. I guess there are different ways of defining civilization. I for one would prefer using a measure other than the number of HDTVs one is able to purchase. Or loot.
Of course, it's much easier for one to sit and expect a handout than it is to get off one's tucus and lend a hand - for one's own good at the very least, if not even for others. A decent, mature response does take more effort than just grabbing everything you can reach and slinging the blame at the first target you can find.
But then, most Southeast Asians aren't used to having the government do everything for them.
"We're going to help you get out of the city," Thomas said. "If you choose not to leave, you're here at your own risk."
Hmm. Free will. Ouch.
For more ouch, reference this. See what you think. Drop me a line if you don't want to comment here.
But either way, this much is no joke: Literally everyone i've talked with about Katrina here in Europe honestly thinks George Bush personally caused the catastrophe in New Orleans. These aren't people who hate him or anything; they don't even necessarily know much about the whole thing. They just believe what they're told. (Interesting that even Bill Clinton was appalled at the BBC's coverage, for instance.)
The mentality of sheer entitlement we've slid into is frightening to me. My heart broke for the poverty-stricken and homeless who were physically and financially unable to evacuate New Orleans before Katrina. And it was indeed the responsibility of the rest of us - whether church or government, to beg a big debate - to take care of them, and we failed. But i too have friends and relatives who are homeless right now because of Katrina, and others whose entire livelihood was destroyed, leaving them with almost nothing but their lives and one another. And their response? To give. Many of them are reaching out to their neighbors as we speak, even as another terrifying Category Five looms in the Gulf. And i know still others who have traveled a long way, at their own great expense, to lend a hand. From what i've heard, the destitute Thai and Indonesian villagers hit by the Southeast Asian tsunamis responded similarly. They helped each other find food. They cleaned up their own neighborhoods. They didn't rob, beat, or rape the tourists. I guess there are different ways of defining civilization. I for one would prefer using a measure other than the number of HDTVs one is able to purchase. Or loot.
Of course, it's much easier for one to sit and expect a handout than it is to get off one's tucus and lend a hand - for one's own good at the very least, if not even for others. A decent, mature response does take more effort than just grabbing everything you can reach and slinging the blame at the first target you can find.
But then, most Southeast Asians aren't used to having the government do everything for them.
1 Comments:
My comment is, AMEN Brotha' tell it like it is...I also have many friends from Georgia to Texas who are living (thank God they are living!) the effects of Katrina and fearing the effects of Rita!!!
Lets see if we can make a better 'show' at Rita's end, as far as basic humanity is concerned. As in: None of this rioting, looting, and psycho bi-polar craziness mixed in with a few snipers?!?!?! What tha'?
As far as Denmark goes..spent a few days their myself last year stayed at a friends flat that was away visiting other people (and get this, one of the people traveling with us was Buck! Good o'le Zion Train...as Reuben would say...yep we were cruising in his PT Cruiser, if you can imagine that...you know with ferry rides and all) anyway, dead on with the pastries, FANTASTIC! The fact that they were accepting three different kinds of money kind of drove one crazy (Euro, Kroner's, mmm there was one other) but the further in you got the harder it was to spend Euro's. One of the fine establishments I ate at there late at night when we first got into 'town' you may know of - Mickey D's or was it Burger King?! Yep it was BK, I know because i don't order strawberry shakes from McD's, or much else for that matter...hahaha!
If you get a chance to travel to Belgium, get a waffle from a streetside or subway/train vendor (you know, the REAL Belgium waffle) that way you can come back to IHOP in the states and spit theirs on the floor and say with the utmost indignity, 'Whats this rotten filth you call a Belgium Waffle?!?! And why is there syrup on it??!'...I still don't hear my waitress laughing though...oh, excuse me...server or wait PERSON.
Later.
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