Katrina
I think it's safe to say that the storm was more than what most all of us expected, even more so the effects it had on the entire country and will have for months to come. It's still in the early stage it seems but I've already had so many questions pop up in my head, so I'm sure the rest of America will soon as well. You know something is wrong somewhere when you watch C-SPAN and see our government officials tell you one thing, then you turn on the tv and see another. All one can assume for now is that it's somewhere in between. Yet I have been "lucky" enough to hear reports through friends of friends and from what they're telling me and the posts I've seen from people in that area on MySpace, it's a lot more like what the news tells us. Things have gone into complete anarchy and not just in New Orleans. The questions that I think will be raised over the next few days is this. Why couldn't we get aid to those people and get them out of that area faster? Are we so over-extended with our troops overseas that we don't have enough to send down there to help these people? Two states are in distress right now, Louisiana in the most perile. It is nearly right smack in the middle of this country which is full of TENS of MILLIONS of people and we couldn't get there in time? It makes me wonder how things will be if the "end of an era" really does come and the weather really starts getting crazy. I have a feeling this is only the beginning of many storms and natural disasters to come, so how we react if very important to observe. Two states are in distress and chaos; anarchy and death are still prevailant there days later. What are we going to do when not only the gulf coast is in distress, but so are the plains from spin-snapping tornadoes and some other region from God knows what? What will the rest of the country do then? THEN will you stop buying your precious gasoline for just one freakin day? That's what I truly can't understand are these people that are taking for granted these energy sources. Has this country become so full of selfish people that you'll go and spend $40 on filling up your gas tank so that you can go down a few city blocks to go get high with your friends? Perhaps not in every particular situation but the point is that DON'T BUY GAS UNLESS YOU *NEED* IT! It's sad but I could see this country running out of energy and everyone dying from that because the rest of us couldn't stop doing what we've been programmed for so long to do... consume! Well people, for one day... stop consuming! There is a crisis here and if you can't react to this one, how are you going to have the strength to react to anything more Gods forbid if it should ever happen. I understand a lot of people do not have compassion for those down there because "they were warned to leave". What you heartless bastards have to realize is that the majority of these people weren't even capable of leaving! Most of them are too poor, old or young, and have no family to go to and no money for a hotel. Are they supposed to start walking? What about the 78 year old women in her wheelchair with COPD? What about her grandaughter that has no money, is she going to start walking and leave behind her grandmother to die? What would YOU do? Yes, think about this happening to you because the truth is, this could happen to anyone. Any day, within hours, you could have everything you've ever had completely lost and taken from you. To have that happen then to live the lives those people down there have been living the past 4-5 days is more than I'd ever wish upon anybody, no matter how "idiotic" their choice may have been. If they had a choice at all. Nobody that survives that then deserves to be raped or beaten by other survivors that have obviously either snapped and gone crazy from it or were already bad people to begin with. We should've been down there the minute we heard their cries of distress. If the military is so caught up in their efforts overseas that they can't successfully save just ONE city in 24 hours, then when are we going to take matters into our own hands and start to help each other? How big of a natural disastor is it going to take? Because this one was catastrophic, but I don't see a bus line organizing buses and sending them down there to get these people the hell out of there. I dunno, all of it just makes one think quite a bit...