Nightmare in New Orleans

This is America in 2005 yet when I watch the coverage of what is going on in New Orleans it brings back memories of the scenes in Gone With The Wind of the burning of Atlanta. Except the scenes in GWTW didn't look as bad. How is it possible that in the greatest country in the world our own citizens are dying on the streets and in the Superdome and in abandoned hospitals? The scenes remind me of an Arnold Schwartzenegger movie except where is he? And if you think it can't happen to you think again. We are all just a disaster away from seeing ourselves on CNN. Think about it. You're displaced from your homes with no water, no working toilets, no phones, no food, no clean clothes, no gas. And it's 95 degrees outside and there is water up to your waist. It's great that Congress passed yet another bill to send money but it seems that these people need buses to get out of there, clothing, food, diapers, infant formula, water, and medicine. Maybe they should send that stuff immediately and worry about how to pay for it later. It's great that President Bush has assured people that help is coming but where is it? As my brother says, it's a disgrace.

This disaster is so immense it is hard to wrap your mind around it. Here's a clue--when you hear "it's a crisis of biblical proportions" more than once, it's a big, bad crisis. People are trapped in hospitals. The hospitals are surrounded by water. People with guns are shooting at rescue helicopters. Everyone is desperate. Oh, yeah, and now there are fires burning out of control. This morning I heard about a woman who recently had a baby and she was released from the hospital but her baby was not. Now she has no idea where her newborn is. And there are thousands and thousands of stories just as bad or worse.

If you are able to read this you have an Internet connection. That alone means your day is already about a hundred thousand times better than anyone you're seeing on CNN. And that should make you realize that, no matter who cuts you off on the highway, or how long you have to wait in a long, slow post office line, or how expensive it is to fill up your gas tank, none of us reading this has any problems.