Failure Of A System...Maybe; Failure Of A Society...Not Yet...

First, I must say forgive me if this particular post rambles. I have many things to say about the New Orleans disaster, the aftermath of Katrina, and America in general.

When did we become a Nation with the attitude of "entitlement"? This attitude grows stronger everyday and people expect the government to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives or simply choose to live on welfare because it is easier. I am not so harden that I do not have compassion for the tragedy in New Orleans and for the people who lost their lives and the people who lost everything. Tragedy is what it is ... Tragedy. No one expects it, No one plans it, and once it happens... It is done and cannot ever be taken back or changed. Long before "government" ever existed, People suffered tragedies and pulled together and got through it. I realize in these modern times we depend upon to many
conveniences and the reality of it all is as a nation and as individuals we have become soft and have lost our survival instincts. We have lost knowledge passed down from generation to generation because we look to the more technologic advances in order to make our lives easier. No wonder we are a "prozac" nation.
These people that lost everything have a horrible ordeal to face, but with help and support from "fellow" man... life can and will go forth. I lost everything I owned except the clothes on my back in a fire and the loss of those material things really made me realize the importance of having lived and not lost any loved ones. The hardest part was getting past the devastation. I am not trying to say my experience can compare to the devastation in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast... What I am saying is the human spirit can pick up the pieces and move on.

I also feel each person has a responsiblity to themselves and to their families and the government cannot be blamed anymore than the victims themselves. People made choices to stay, unfortunately some paid for it with the lives or the lives of their loved ones. Can anyone one person or nation claim to be prepared for an uncontrollable force of nature or a fanatic with an army? The efforts after the Tsunami were no more greater than those efforts during this horrible aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Man has always endured himself against the elements and when he/she is successful over and over again it simply gives a false sense of security and
invincibility and I feel that god or nature has to exert their authority and humble people once again.

The media has done an excellent job of exploiting all the short commings of relief efforts and the failure to provide immeadiate relief. However; what I have failed to see at this point is the reports of all the aid comming in from all over the nation. People are renting semi-trucks and trailers and filling them with food, water, clothing and other neccessaties. I had the opportunity to meet a group of people from Washington State that are members of the Washingtion Urban Search and Recue team heading to New Orleans to offer their help. These men and women had been driving for over 58 hours on their own time and money...
My sister is Part of a Non profit organization that makes dehydrated food products and it runs strictly on donations and charges nothing for this food and they have transported food daily. Each shipment enough to feed 30,000 people a day. Realtors that have bought the closed Military bases are opening their doors to our refugees. Carnival Cruise Lines have sent three ships to the gulf coast to provide shelter for the homeless. The people of this nation definitely have not turned their backs on our friends in need. I am not so naive as to think that these efforts are enough to take away all of the pain and suffering and loss of lives and homes but it is something to be thankful about.

Look Later for Part II...