Answer me this...
Walking down the street a familiar, haunting and unnatural feeling returns. I knew it instantly. The last time I felt it was in the days and weeks following 9/11. Living about a mile from the Pentagon and having 100 or so friends and family living and working in NY, my day-to-day life was amazingly unaffected but my life in general was never to be the same again.
The skies emptied, the government closed, as did schools, malls and most means of public transportation. Streets were closed, soldiers were everywhere and the first thing I did in the morning was to either turn on CNN or log on to AOL to see if my world was shaken again – once a habit now a part of my life like brushing my teeth. As days became weeks and weeks became years I watched fear turn into frustration at increased lines at the airports and little to show for all the expense and attention. We were forever changed and forever left with that annoying scroll across the bottom of every news channel.
I imagine that the past week has been a sort of de ja vue of 9/11 for most of America. What Katrina has done is beyond imagination but fortunately we have the media and Internet to help us. I just feel numb. I want to talk about it and I want answers.
I don’t blame Bush, I really want to, but I can’t. I will blame him for depleting our military and National Guard to avenge his father’s loss but I think everything was done that could be done and no matter what the experts say about warnings and plans – nobody is ever ready for this kind of devastation and even the best plans need time to mobilize. In the months and years to come experts will argue how well we actually responded.
I don’t blame people for staying instead of following orders and evacuating. How many times has Mother Nature outwitted man? How about denial, lack of means and curiosity? All understandable reasons, all acceptable and all proven right more often then not.
I want a sociologist. I want to know why was there looting? I’m right there with them. After a few days I’d go shopping to but only for things to help me survive and definitely not on the second or third day and not tvs and guns – I might have to re-think the gun part. I don’t think there was looting because people feared for their lives – most of the stranded had no idea how bad their situation was.
I want to know why rescuers were shot at. I want to know why there have been rapes and murders. I want to know if looting, shooting, raping and murders happen in other countries devastated by earthquakes, mudslides, volcanoes and tsunamis or if this is an American reaction?
I’ve heard many stories of tragedy, horror and violence in New Orleans but I can’t recall stories about heroic actions or people banding together to survive. I’ve seen people waiting to be taken care of, whining and complaining. Demanding help as if it were owed to them. I don’t remember seeing people acting like that in other tragedies. Is this media bias? Color bias? Wealth bias? Class bias? In equally devastated but unequally covered Mississippi, was there rape, murder or gunfire?
For a week we’ve read, watched and listened to 20,000 people be rescued and relocated. Amazing! How people have the nerve to criticize and complain, I don’t know. However, New Orleans was a city of 480,000, what about the other 460,000? Where are they? Where will they go? What will they do?
In the aftermath of the tsunami, we had daily updates on the number of lives lost. Have American math skills sunk so low that we can’t our dead? Simple math tells us that 20,000 out of 480,000 is 4.2%. The most optimistic numbers would have 90% of the population of New Orleans evacuating. Where are the other 28,000?
Lastly, when everything you own is destroyed, what happens to your debt? Insurance will only pay for so much. Do you still have to pay your credit card bills, car loan, and mortgage?
The skies emptied, the government closed, as did schools, malls and most means of public transportation. Streets were closed, soldiers were everywhere and the first thing I did in the morning was to either turn on CNN or log on to AOL to see if my world was shaken again – once a habit now a part of my life like brushing my teeth. As days became weeks and weeks became years I watched fear turn into frustration at increased lines at the airports and little to show for all the expense and attention. We were forever changed and forever left with that annoying scroll across the bottom of every news channel.
I imagine that the past week has been a sort of de ja vue of 9/11 for most of America. What Katrina has done is beyond imagination but fortunately we have the media and Internet to help us. I just feel numb. I want to talk about it and I want answers.
I don’t blame Bush, I really want to, but I can’t. I will blame him for depleting our military and National Guard to avenge his father’s loss but I think everything was done that could be done and no matter what the experts say about warnings and plans – nobody is ever ready for this kind of devastation and even the best plans need time to mobilize. In the months and years to come experts will argue how well we actually responded.
I don’t blame people for staying instead of following orders and evacuating. How many times has Mother Nature outwitted man? How about denial, lack of means and curiosity? All understandable reasons, all acceptable and all proven right more often then not.
I want a sociologist. I want to know why was there looting? I’m right there with them. After a few days I’d go shopping to but only for things to help me survive and definitely not on the second or third day and not tvs and guns – I might have to re-think the gun part. I don’t think there was looting because people feared for their lives – most of the stranded had no idea how bad their situation was.
I want to know why rescuers were shot at. I want to know why there have been rapes and murders. I want to know if looting, shooting, raping and murders happen in other countries devastated by earthquakes, mudslides, volcanoes and tsunamis or if this is an American reaction?
I’ve heard many stories of tragedy, horror and violence in New Orleans but I can’t recall stories about heroic actions or people banding together to survive. I’ve seen people waiting to be taken care of, whining and complaining. Demanding help as if it were owed to them. I don’t remember seeing people acting like that in other tragedies. Is this media bias? Color bias? Wealth bias? Class bias? In equally devastated but unequally covered Mississippi, was there rape, murder or gunfire?
For a week we’ve read, watched and listened to 20,000 people be rescued and relocated. Amazing! How people have the nerve to criticize and complain, I don’t know. However, New Orleans was a city of 480,000, what about the other 460,000? Where are they? Where will they go? What will they do?
In the aftermath of the tsunami, we had daily updates on the number of lives lost. Have American math skills sunk so low that we can’t our dead? Simple math tells us that 20,000 out of 480,000 is 4.2%. The most optimistic numbers would have 90% of the population of New Orleans evacuating. Where are the other 28,000?
Lastly, when everything you own is destroyed, what happens to your debt? Insurance will only pay for so much. Do you still have to pay your credit card bills, car loan, and mortgage?
posted by Sean at 10:26 PM
7 comments
