Thought about Katrina
Watching the pictures on the TV causes many thoughts to swirl about in my head. I mentally pick one up, turn it over, inspect it, put it down, then pick up another. Blogging can often help me process things, so I thought I'd do just that.
The first thought is one of gratitude. Over and over and over I am faced with how blessed I am. I am also faced with the fact that I have done nothing to deserve such blessing. It's easy to feel close to God when the world is rosy and peaceful. Would I feel the same if I were plunged into the abyss? I won't know until I am tested, and I really don't want to be tested. We don't live where hurricanes roam, but I guess we always whisper about "the big one" (earthquake) and I do have 3 volcanos within eyesight of our city. I'm sure nobody in New Orleans thought, "next week my life is going to be turned upside down", so why should I be able to see it coming?
Disasters bring out the best and worst of human nature. We see people risking their lives to help total strangers; we see gang violence amidst refugees in the Superdome. I will always believe though, that a) given the right circumstances we would be capable of similar (both good and bad) and b) judging people based on TV images is easy to do, but hardly fair. Looting is a prime example. We are given a two-second glimpse of a group of people throwing rocks through a window. We don't know what is on the other side. Food? Water? We don't know the situation. Some things make no sense at all. I saw an image of someone carting off pairs and pairs of sneakers. Why would you do that? Soon that person will discover that his new found "wealth" is nothing but a millstone around his neck and they will be abandoned. On the other hand, don't feel too bad for the store owners. It will be weeks or months before the water will be drained. How much will be salvagable after that? Who cares if your sneakers somehow miraculously made it through if you don't have a store to sell them in or customers to buy them? With this in mind, I would consider taking food or water to feed your family to be a perfectly rational decision.
In the end, the people most hurt by the hurricane may be the residents of Niger where hundreds of thousands may die of starvation. Our country's eye will be turned inward at our own tragedy while a much larger drama plays out. I have seen many, many people quoted lashing out that help isn't coming fast enough, but it has been months in Niger. Why do we not cry out at their anguish? Are we even aware? Certainly the poor have been affected on the gulf coast, New Orleans had more than her fair share of "have nots", but the poorest of the poor almost exclusively live outside our borders. If God were somehow limited in His ability to dispense Justice, would it not go first to those in Africa?
Perhaps this blog is a little more "rantish" than usual. Probably a result of me not taking enough time to process. My heart breaks at the tragedy unfolding; I tear up when I witness good being done; I react strongly when I see evil as if my heart were prodded by a painful stimulus. I just can't take it all in.
Comments and reactions are always welcome...
The first thought is one of gratitude. Over and over and over I am faced with how blessed I am. I am also faced with the fact that I have done nothing to deserve such blessing. It's easy to feel close to God when the world is rosy and peaceful. Would I feel the same if I were plunged into the abyss? I won't know until I am tested, and I really don't want to be tested. We don't live where hurricanes roam, but I guess we always whisper about "the big one" (earthquake) and I do have 3 volcanos within eyesight of our city. I'm sure nobody in New Orleans thought, "next week my life is going to be turned upside down", so why should I be able to see it coming?
Disasters bring out the best and worst of human nature. We see people risking their lives to help total strangers; we see gang violence amidst refugees in the Superdome. I will always believe though, that a) given the right circumstances we would be capable of similar (both good and bad) and b) judging people based on TV images is easy to do, but hardly fair. Looting is a prime example. We are given a two-second glimpse of a group of people throwing rocks through a window. We don't know what is on the other side. Food? Water? We don't know the situation. Some things make no sense at all. I saw an image of someone carting off pairs and pairs of sneakers. Why would you do that? Soon that person will discover that his new found "wealth" is nothing but a millstone around his neck and they will be abandoned. On the other hand, don't feel too bad for the store owners. It will be weeks or months before the water will be drained. How much will be salvagable after that? Who cares if your sneakers somehow miraculously made it through if you don't have a store to sell them in or customers to buy them? With this in mind, I would consider taking food or water to feed your family to be a perfectly rational decision.
In the end, the people most hurt by the hurricane may be the residents of Niger where hundreds of thousands may die of starvation. Our country's eye will be turned inward at our own tragedy while a much larger drama plays out. I have seen many, many people quoted lashing out that help isn't coming fast enough, but it has been months in Niger. Why do we not cry out at their anguish? Are we even aware? Certainly the poor have been affected on the gulf coast, New Orleans had more than her fair share of "have nots", but the poorest of the poor almost exclusively live outside our borders. If God were somehow limited in His ability to dispense Justice, would it not go first to those in Africa?
Perhaps this blog is a little more "rantish" than usual. Probably a result of me not taking enough time to process. My heart breaks at the tragedy unfolding; I tear up when I witness good being done; I react strongly when I see evil as if my heart were prodded by a painful stimulus. I just can't take it all in.
Comments and reactions are always welcome...
This entry was posted on September 04, 2005
at 9:22 AM.
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