i should make a post
I know that to some other countries out there, our obsession with making a 9/11 statement is annoying. And self-involved. But ya know, I'm American, and it happened here, and... yeah, maybe it is self-involved, but. That's not what this post is about.
Because I don't want to just talk about 9/11/01, I want to talk about disasters and responses to disasters period. Because I was reading medie's journal in a post made today where she talks about her town taking in American's stranded because of the no air travel following 9/11.
And the thing is, it's really easy to think of humanity as a whole as being pretty selfish. Just kind of as a whole, generally speaking. If not humanity as a whole, then certainly Americans. Self-obsessed and greedy and holier than thou and selfish. Because yeah. Absolutely. Not arguing. We can be, and most times are. Not a great thing to be, no, but it's just true.
BUT. When the shit hits the fan, it's really heartening to see that people CAN act like the brothers and sisters we all are. And I'm not talking about religion here, I'm just talking about we all bleed red, and we all cry sometimes, and we all laugh sometimes. There are just times when the color of your skin or the religion of your choice or the party you're affiliated with or any of that MEANINGLESS BULLSHIT. Because that's exactly what it is, it's meaningless.
And the thing is, when the shit hits the fan, we tend to be there for each other. Different countries or even just our literal neighbors. And our togetherness, our brotherhood, is never more apparent than in disasters, like 9/11, or even hurricanes like hurricane Gustav. (I'm leaving out Katrina because that's a post all in itself). People taking in coworkers and relative's they can't stand and giving hot food to those that don't have a gas stove and giving out water or blankets or people from freakin' MICHIGAN driving down here with a convoy of over 20 rigs to help us get the trees out of the way so we can get our electricity back.
It's so heartening to see that, how giving we as a society can be. What's depressing though is that it TAKES something like that for us as a whole to BE like that. And that bubble of good will only lasts so long. The bubble of Sept 11th lasted like, what, 3 months? And four days after the storm people stopped being overly nice and started back being rude and reckless. (The out of state help is still here and still wonderful, don't get me wrong, I'm speaking of the residents of Baton Rouge and it's surrounding areas).
It's just, why can't people be nice just in general. Can't we just try to be nice all the time instead of waiting until we're all covered in shit and piss and then being like "oh, did you need a towel?" I wish we could. And that's the point of my post really, is just that general old addage of when you smile the whole world smiles... so SMILE DAMNIT!
Because I don't want to just talk about 9/11/01, I want to talk about disasters and responses to disasters period. Because I was reading medie's journal in a post made today where she talks about her town taking in American's stranded because of the no air travel following 9/11.
And the thing is, it's really easy to think of humanity as a whole as being pretty selfish. Just kind of as a whole, generally speaking. If not humanity as a whole, then certainly Americans. Self-obsessed and greedy and holier than thou and selfish. Because yeah. Absolutely. Not arguing. We can be, and most times are. Not a great thing to be, no, but it's just true.
BUT. When the shit hits the fan, it's really heartening to see that people CAN act like the brothers and sisters we all are. And I'm not talking about religion here, I'm just talking about we all bleed red, and we all cry sometimes, and we all laugh sometimes. There are just times when the color of your skin or the religion of your choice or the party you're affiliated with or any of that MEANINGLESS BULLSHIT. Because that's exactly what it is, it's meaningless.
And the thing is, when the shit hits the fan, we tend to be there for each other. Different countries or even just our literal neighbors. And our togetherness, our brotherhood, is never more apparent than in disasters, like 9/11, or even hurricanes like hurricane Gustav. (I'm leaving out Katrina because that's a post all in itself). People taking in coworkers and relative's they can't stand and giving hot food to those that don't have a gas stove and giving out water or blankets or people from freakin' MICHIGAN driving down here with a convoy of over 20 rigs to help us get the trees out of the way so we can get our electricity back.
It's so heartening to see that, how giving we as a society can be. What's depressing though is that it TAKES something like that for us as a whole to BE like that. And that bubble of good will only lasts so long. The bubble of Sept 11th lasted like, what, 3 months? And four days after the storm people stopped being overly nice and started back being rude and reckless. (The out of state help is still here and still wonderful, don't get me wrong, I'm speaking of the residents of Baton Rouge and it's surrounding areas).
It's just, why can't people be nice just in general. Can't we just try to be nice all the time instead of waiting until we're all covered in shit and piss and then being like "oh, did you need a towel?" I wish we could. And that's the point of my post really, is just that general old addage of when you smile the whole world smiles... so SMILE DAMNIT!