By:
The Dude on the Right
Fine, they are finally starting to realize the magnitude of the disaster that is
taking place thanks to hurricane Katrina, and it’s bad enough with the
devastation in places like
Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi, but I can’t help but wonder, and be kind
of incensed, as to why did it take so long for the major networks to realize
what was happening in New Orleans, in our own country? Isn’t there one
person there who could have said "Umm, guys, New Orleans is below sea level, the
levee’s are broken and the pumps are broken, that pretty much means New Orleans
is going to fill up with water, that pretty much means that water isn’t going to
go anywhere, anytime, quickly, and that water will be filled with polluted
chemicals, dead bodies, and creepy critters. We’re looking at a
catastrophe of major, even biblical proportions, maybe we should get on this and
get the public aware of what is going on so maybe they can realize the extent of
the devastation other than the fact that their gas prices going up more than
fifty cents in a day." But no, the major networks continue with mostly
their normal programming, and the only folks really covering this are the cable
news people.
NBC has announced a
fundraising concert/broadcast, scheduled for Friday at 8PM EDT, at oooh, an
entire hour. Alright, that’s kind of a jab, but at least they are doing
something, but my feelings are still this: ISN’T ANYONE REALIZING THE
MAGNITUDE OF THIS DEVASTATION OTHER THAN THE PEOPLE WHOSE LIVES HAVE BEEN
DEVASTATED? I hate to compare this to the World Trade Center attacks, they
are sort of different, yet a lot the same, and maybe even worse. We don’t
know the extent of loss of life from Katrina, it might only be hundreds, yet it
might be in the thousands, but the difference is the number of people whose
lives have been uprooted, probably for months, maybe even years, and it is a far
magnitude greater than when we were attacked. Yes, I know the attack on
the World Trade Center and Pentagon were horrific, and maybe it’s because they
were so visual, and maybe at least for those, we had someone to blame, but there
doesn’t seem to be the same American spirit associated with this event.
You may say something like "Well, they should have gotten out of there, they
knew it was coming," and I say "There are hundreds of thousands who evacuated
and are now wondering when, if ever, they will see anything they owned ever
again, let alone figure out when, where, how, they will work and live again."
You may say something like "They knew the risk of living where they lived," and
I say "It doesn’t matter where you live, you live within a catastrophic, natural
disaster. I live in Illinois and we have a major earthquake fault, fine,
more Missouri, but still Illinois, called the
New Madrid Fault
that now that I know is here, maybe I’m not in such a safe place except for the
occasional blizzard or tornado. You might have a volcano on your horizon,
you might also have an earthquake, you might have tsunami caused by some crap
breaking off a shelf over in Europe or Africa that will level you. You
never know the risk.
Fine, I’m rambling some for this blog entry, I suppose because it bugs me
that New Orleans and other sites of the Katrina devastation aren’t getting the
attention they deserve. I’ve got a fun weekend waiting for me, spending it
in downtown Chicago, hitting a lot of the places my friends and I usually hit,
and catching Jimmy Buffett for a couple of shows at Wrigley Field, but right
now, and it will probably hold at times during the weekend, I see a couple of
images in my head. One is of a dead body, floating in their house or their
attic, peaceful now, but knowing their life came to a terrible end.
Another is of the people stuck in hotel rooms, even the Superdome, where they
have no power, no plumbing, no water, shitting in a toilet that won’t flush, and wondering how I would hold up.
The last is that I looked at the block I live on as I was coming home today,
picturing it in my mind if all of it was gone. It’s not the same as what
they are going through because my home was still there, but hundreds of
thousands of people are, right now, wondering what they are going to do
tomorrow. For most of the rest of us, we know.
Please donate.
From my eyes, this devastation is many times worse than you think it is, at
least, unless, you’ve been watching the cable news channels. Right now
they seem to understand. I only hope the rest of us realize it.
This will probably be my last blog until sometime next week, mostly because
I’ll be away from any computer connections and drinking too much. If you
are pregnant, have a good Labor Day (get it, Labor Day 🙂 ), if you are in the labor industry, have a
good Labor Day, but in any case, remember, think, or pray if it is your thing,
for all of the people impacted by Hurricane Katrina. They deserve your
support as much as anyone you have donated you help before.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!