Inclement Weather II

I've deliberately not gone out of my way to read about New Orleans because I prefer to isolate myself from tragedy until it's a moment of necessity where I can do something, like give money I've won to a specific charity (building schools in Vietnam) or voting for a political candidate who hasn't ham-stringed my country (last presidential election). I hate tragedy. I refuse to watch sad movies. I don't read books I know won't end well. I am suspicious of stories that sound like they might go pear-shaped. When I was forced to read Romeo And Juliet and The Grapes Of Wrath in high school, I swore I would never take another English class. It's that useless helpless feeling that I hate. Bad things happen. I can't do anything to make it stop. It's half a world away, it's imaginary, it's historical, whatever. There's nothing I can do. I hate it.

But I can't ignore the outside world forever. Today I read articles about the disaster until I cried.

Then I kept reading.

Through my tears I kept reading, through my frustration and my anger and grief.

The worst part was the way that volunteers were under-utilized, people offering food were turned away from the city, the Navy medical ship was never authorized to enter the port so instead floated uselessly off the coast STILL waiting while the few emergency personnel who were authorized to contain the disaster, rescue the victims, and keep the peace were so desperately over-worked and shell-shocked that two of them COMMITTED SUICIDE because they couldn't face the stress and unending horror of their situation. Volunteers were even being turned away from places like the Astrodome in Houston! Yet when those would-be volunteers walked past the cops to check it out for themselves, the Red Cross was so glad to see them that they were instantly sent to work unloading cots and setting up medical stations because they were needed so badly.

What are people thinking? The situation in Texas wasn't even a crisis, but I think it's typical of the way this whole disaster has been handled. There are people in need. There are people who can help them, who want to help them. Then there are people standing in between, saying "It's not necessary, we've got everything handled, go home."

Maybe it's a symbol of the larger societal problems America has, the racial divisions, the class lines drawn, the rift between the haves and have-nots. All of it encapsulated, distilled and made clear by this disaster. Those cops in Houston were going home to a safe bed; they didn't care if the Red Cross had everything set up or not. And the would-be volunteers chose to listen to their hearts, to the reporters whom they'd seen on TV less than an hour earlier interviewing the Red Cross who BEGGED for volunteers to come, anyone, as soon as possible.

We need to listen more with our ears, see more with our eyes. We should not listen to the people "in charge." They are out of touch.

Not just about this, but about everything: education issues like overcrowding in schools, cutting optional programs like art or sports linked to an increase in school violence, health care for citizens who need it, not just for those who can afford it. Being told that there's nothing wrong with the environment when we can look out our back window and see the air pollution blocking our view of Mt. Rainier, criss-crossed with the scars from logging. Being told that a war for oil is necessary when attention to alternative fuel sources has been "sluggish" at best.

If you're interested in the list of which agencies or services volunteered to help and were rejected by FEMA or whoever's in charge now, go to my friends page and look up the user cleolinda. She's got posts just compiling news articles, links, ways to donate, where the greatest need is. It's easy to read, and clearly labeled.

And please, please. If you haven't done anything to help the rescue effort, please do. Donate to the Red Cross, donate to the Humane Society, do something. Think of these people, pray for them. Days have gone by, and their plight is not over. People are still trapped and dying. It's like New York, except it's an entire city instead of two single buildings.