Katrina
It's been approximately two weeks since Katrina hit the South. I normally dislike watching much about such devastation, preferring to pray silently and give where I can without actually knowing exactly how bad it really is. After all, if I don't have to see it in person, why see it at all? It's upsetting and it won't help anyone to make myself upset.
However, I do wish to know what's going on, how they're being helped, and if there's anything else I CAN do. Then there are some things I wish were left out of the papers, because it really ticks me off to hear certain things.
The first thing I noticed was how we take so much for granted, and how short-sighted many people are. I admit that when gas and oil prices hiked up, I was a bit scared, since I barely moved a good 20 minutes from work and now /need/ to buy gas for my truck. The new place also requires oil, which we pay for, so that scared me a bit, too. But as people complained about these prices rising so high, all I could think amidst my own fear was, "But at least we have some place to go. At least we CAN buy gas. At least we have vehicles to put gas in. At least we have homes to put oil in. Our jobs are still there awaiting us after we spend so much on gas and oil!!" And yes, I know it's highly likely that oil and/or gas companies probably made a profit off the devastation at least on some level. Whatever, though, really. There's corruption everywhere.
Which leads me to my first real gripe about Louisiana's devastation. Why are people looting down there? Why are people mugging other people? What on earth are people thinking? Are they thinking at all? I guess I can't judge people doing these things because I'm not there, I'm not the one who has just lost everything. Yet I wonder, if things are so bad, why isn't EVERYONE looting everyone else, mugging everyone? If devastation causes people to go insane, why not everyone? Is devastation really an excuse for people to lose their sense of respect for fellow devastatees? Hello?
My next gripe is something I recently read about how authorities forced people to abandon their animals. I would have stayed with my critters just as some people down there did. I'm pretty certain of that. While many critters have the innate ability to fend for themselves and take care of themselves in the face of natural disaster, most pets are not natural creatures any more. They're domesticated, which means they depend on their human counterparts to nurture, feed, water, and take care of them. You don't go leaving a pampered dog in diseased waters any more than you'd leave a small child! I'm sorry if that makes animals sound like they should be considered as important to humans as human children, but to me they are if humans want to go around treating them as such. If we dominate the animals, we need to take responsibility for them. Am I wrong? Am I? I might not have answers on how to contain a room full of pets and their peoples, but someone must, and if not then there should be some council somewhere who can figure it out asap. Idiots.
Finally, there's the government. Ooh, the president apologizes. Big freakin' whup. Doesn't help the people that have already died or become deadly ill. Or the animals that have already perished. What I'd like to know is, why is it that this country is so well off and can help take care of third world countries when even before Katrina ever hit, there have been decades of homeless and poor and hungry people on our own native streets? How can we export tons of food to other countries to help feed the hungry there when we have our own starving people here? How can we send our own veterans onto the streets while expecting more recruits to go fight a war that shouldn't even be ours in the first place?
What is WRONG with this country? Political bull is what it is. We all know this but most of us feel helpless to do anything, right? Right. That's all it is, too. I myself am guilty of nonaction. I plead no hypocrisy here. I know that in order to do the most I can I'd have to rally the public, make a stand, possibly get shot down by whatever forces out there don't want me to speak my mind and actually do some good in the world. But I figure everything happens for a reason and even if I did try, my efforts would do little if anything to help change things for the better.
Still, I want to know why the Powers That Be are as corrupt and stupid as they make themselves out to be. I want to know where their decency went, why it's so difficult to figure out some way, in all their wisdom, to actually FIX OUR OWN SOBBING COUNTRY.
Why? From my short life on this planet I've learned one major thing. You help yourself first, because if you don't take care of yourself and stay strong, you can't help anyone else. So how can a country supposedly so strong as ours actually take care of others?
That's my rant for the day.
However, I do wish to know what's going on, how they're being helped, and if there's anything else I CAN do. Then there are some things I wish were left out of the papers, because it really ticks me off to hear certain things.
The first thing I noticed was how we take so much for granted, and how short-sighted many people are. I admit that when gas and oil prices hiked up, I was a bit scared, since I barely moved a good 20 minutes from work and now /need/ to buy gas for my truck. The new place also requires oil, which we pay for, so that scared me a bit, too. But as people complained about these prices rising so high, all I could think amidst my own fear was, "But at least we have some place to go. At least we CAN buy gas. At least we have vehicles to put gas in. At least we have homes to put oil in. Our jobs are still there awaiting us after we spend so much on gas and oil!!" And yes, I know it's highly likely that oil and/or gas companies probably made a profit off the devastation at least on some level. Whatever, though, really. There's corruption everywhere.
Which leads me to my first real gripe about Louisiana's devastation. Why are people looting down there? Why are people mugging other people? What on earth are people thinking? Are they thinking at all? I guess I can't judge people doing these things because I'm not there, I'm not the one who has just lost everything. Yet I wonder, if things are so bad, why isn't EVERYONE looting everyone else, mugging everyone? If devastation causes people to go insane, why not everyone? Is devastation really an excuse for people to lose their sense of respect for fellow devastatees? Hello?
My next gripe is something I recently read about how authorities forced people to abandon their animals. I would have stayed with my critters just as some people down there did. I'm pretty certain of that. While many critters have the innate ability to fend for themselves and take care of themselves in the face of natural disaster, most pets are not natural creatures any more. They're domesticated, which means they depend on their human counterparts to nurture, feed, water, and take care of them. You don't go leaving a pampered dog in diseased waters any more than you'd leave a small child! I'm sorry if that makes animals sound like they should be considered as important to humans as human children, but to me they are if humans want to go around treating them as such. If we dominate the animals, we need to take responsibility for them. Am I wrong? Am I? I might not have answers on how to contain a room full of pets and their peoples, but someone must, and if not then there should be some council somewhere who can figure it out asap. Idiots.
Finally, there's the government. Ooh, the president apologizes. Big freakin' whup. Doesn't help the people that have already died or become deadly ill. Or the animals that have already perished. What I'd like to know is, why is it that this country is so well off and can help take care of third world countries when even before Katrina ever hit, there have been decades of homeless and poor and hungry people on our own native streets? How can we export tons of food to other countries to help feed the hungry there when we have our own starving people here? How can we send our own veterans onto the streets while expecting more recruits to go fight a war that shouldn't even be ours in the first place?
What is WRONG with this country? Political bull is what it is. We all know this but most of us feel helpless to do anything, right? Right. That's all it is, too. I myself am guilty of nonaction. I plead no hypocrisy here. I know that in order to do the most I can I'd have to rally the public, make a stand, possibly get shot down by whatever forces out there don't want me to speak my mind and actually do some good in the world. But I figure everything happens for a reason and even if I did try, my efforts would do little if anything to help change things for the better.
Still, I want to know why the Powers That Be are as corrupt and stupid as they make themselves out to be. I want to know where their decency went, why it's so difficult to figure out some way, in all their wisdom, to actually FIX OUR OWN SOBBING COUNTRY.
Why? From my short life on this planet I've learned one major thing. You help yourself first, because if you don't take care of yourself and stay strong, you can't help anyone else. So how can a country supposedly so strong as ours actually take care of others?
That's my rant for the day.
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