Watching the news right now is difficult. I want to help. My wife and I visited New Orleans for the first time in June. We fell in love with the character that city has. We also got a good look, for the first time, at the absolute poverty many people down there live in. I cannot even begin to imagine what life must be like for them now; everything is gone, and it appears their government has abandoned them.
The President decided to cut his vacation short on Wednesday, maybe Tuesday. What sacrifice. Where was he on Saturday and Sunday when it was glaringly obvious a disaster was pending? Why didn't he have every possible resource gathered on the borders of the storm, ready to mobilize and cover the affected areas with aid the moment they could get in rather than late Tuesday/early Wednesday?
Why the hell is he flying around on a helicopter, assessing the damage on Friday? If it isn't obvious yet, let me save you the time and free up that helicopter for saving lives, Mr. President: it is a freaking devastated disaster area. Towns have been obliterated, a major city is underwater, people are dead and dying because they don't have the aid they need, and you are flying around gawking at it like it's a wreck on the side of the highway!
The people there have become much more than disenfranchised. There are riots, looting, and violence, all because no one (or at least not enough) was there in a timely manner to provide aid and maintain order. Most of the people down there are minorities living in poverty who already felt abandoned. Now it seems like the government is all but ignoring them; and why? Because they are black? Because they are poor? Because they didn't vote for Bush?
It has become clear that the administration does not understand the urgency of the situation. Therefore, it is up to the rest of us, the caring Citizens of the US, to continue doing what we can and more. Right now, there are many people worried and complaining about rising gas prices, especially the sudden rise in the wake of Katrina. To be honest, I don't care. I haven't lost everything; paying $3, $4, $5, $6 or more per gallon is certainly not a big deal. Stop worrying about gas and worry about the people in need.
I would like to offer a suggestion to the people of our country who want to help. Don't travel for Labor Day; stay home. Stay home to love and appreciate your family and to love and appreciate your home. There are many people right now who cannot do that. Take the money you save from not consuming two or three tanks of gas and donate it to hurricane relief. Doing this does two things, it raises more money for aid and reduces the demand for gas on the most traveled weekend of the year.
Simply change your plans for one weekend. Give that extra $50, $100, $200(I know some of you have SUV's and drive long distances). Personally, I want to help more, I want to be hands-on, but this is the best I can do right now, so I'm asking others do do the best they can so that we can start to catch up where our government has fallen behind.
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