Katrina...

[bluejeans07]

One of my flaws I think is that I'm majorly detached from tragedies of the world. I can see it on the news, I can read it online, I can read it in the paper... and there would be a gigantic blank. When the World Trade Center happened, I didn't take it seriously, I thought someone was pulling my leg, and it wasn't until that I saw that everyone else at my high school was affected by it, I finally realized that it happened.

Now, with Hurricane Katrina, I am once again rendered... blank. But there's a difference this time.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/copperbadge/833484.html

I quote copperbadge often, mostly because I'm in awe of his humor, literary ability, and his intelligence. Now, I am in awe of his eloquence and how he managed to put exactly how I feel about situations into words. And while words do not have the power to stop bad things from happening, words can move people to think, pray, and take action. I know that there isn't much I can do or say, but I can pray to God and retain hope.

"If you have a candle, in your home or in your mind or your heart or your temple, tell them."

I have a candle in my heart. I only hope that it's worthy.

Comments

[scendan.livejournal.com]

That was well-said. Part of my sadness for New Orleans (although, like you, my heart is not as impacted, in some ways, as my head--meaning, that it is so beyond the scope of "gee, I'm sorry" that I sort of just shut down over it sometimes), is that SOME of this disaster could have been prevented by real upgrades and careful thinking about their levee system over the years. Disaster of this sort has been predicted for a long time due to the levees, if a hurricane of 4 or greater hit. But not a lot was done. That's the really crazy-making part.

Nobody could have predicted that terrorists would run airplanes through the World Trade Centers--or, rather...when the buildings were being built, nobody would have predicted that. But levees surrounding a city that is regularly hit by hurricanes and was built in a soup bowl below sea-level, between the sea and a big lake? Come on.

It's tragic, it's horrible, I certainly am not blaming the victims of this horrible calamity...but it's really doubly sad that this might have been mitigated, if not avoided, by some forward thinking in the past.