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rhienellethI've already cried reading things about the Katrina aftermath today. I've only got a couple of personal comments to contribute:
1 - Don't let the media's focus on looting and skyrocketing gas prices, or the looting itself, become your focus. Likewise, ignore some of the idiotic things being posted on LJ (not by anyone on my f-list) that focus on the wrong things. Just think about the people that are homeless, who have lost everything including loved ones in many cases.
2 - Don't let politics get in the way. Yes, our country, our system has flaws. Yes, we're richer than other countires struck by disasters. It doesn't matter, except in how we use our collective wealth in response to this. Loss of life tends to make equals of us all, be we kings or paupers.
3 - America's true strength is how we band together in times of crisis and accomplish incredible things. I will be telling my children and grandchildren someday about our amazing, unified response to 9/11. All over the US, people are united in response to this disaster as well. And make no mistake, though caused by nature and not man, this is a disaster on the same or greater scale. According to Wikipedia, the city proper of New Orleans had a population of 484,674 people in the year 2000. If you add in the surrounding communities, that number rises to a staggering 1,337,726. Imagine that just for a second. Over one million people who have lost their homes, the possessions they've loved and treasured all their lives -- and those are the lucky ones. We don't even have an estimate on the body count yet, and I doubt we will for days to come. The Mayor today said it could be in the thousands. To tell you the truth, I'll be shocked if it's not. And I can't even imagine the restoration effort that will have to take place to put things habitable for the survivors again.
4 - I know everyone's already doing this, but it bears repeating. Offer up whatever you can to help. Blood, money, food, prayers. Whatever fits into the scope of what you can do.
1 - Don't let the media's focus on looting and skyrocketing gas prices, or the looting itself, become your focus. Likewise, ignore some of the idiotic things being posted on LJ (not by anyone on my f-list) that focus on the wrong things. Just think about the people that are homeless, who have lost everything including loved ones in many cases.
2 - Don't let politics get in the way. Yes, our country, our system has flaws. Yes, we're richer than other countires struck by disasters. It doesn't matter, except in how we use our collective wealth in response to this. Loss of life tends to make equals of us all, be we kings or paupers.
3 - America's true strength is how we band together in times of crisis and accomplish incredible things. I will be telling my children and grandchildren someday about our amazing, unified response to 9/11. All over the US, people are united in response to this disaster as well. And make no mistake, though caused by nature and not man, this is a disaster on the same or greater scale. According to Wikipedia, the city proper of New Orleans had a population of 484,674 people in the year 2000. If you add in the surrounding communities, that number rises to a staggering 1,337,726. Imagine that just for a second. Over one million people who have lost their homes, the possessions they've loved and treasured all their lives -- and those are the lucky ones. We don't even have an estimate on the body count yet, and I doubt we will for days to come. The Mayor today said it could be in the thousands. To tell you the truth, I'll be shocked if it's not. And I can't even imagine the restoration effort that will have to take place to put things habitable for the survivors again.
4 - I know everyone's already doing this, but it bears repeating. Offer up whatever you can to help. Blood, money, food, prayers. Whatever fits into the scope of what you can do.
