In the Aftermath

"When sorrows come they come not in single spies, but in battalions."
Shakespeare


Over the past few days we have seen all types of pictures of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Beyond lost lives and property another thing has been lost. Perspective. The way people view the government, the way the world views America. All of these things will come to affect us in the future. One positive thing to come out of all of this that I hope will remain is the attitude of the media. The media has been very critical and unforgiving towards the government in it's handling of this situation. Wolf Blitzer even mentioned that the majority of the people we are seeing are "so poor and so black". On Real Time with Bill Maher it was mentioned (well alot was mentioned) that money that would have gone directly to helping preparing the Gulf Coast for incidents such as this had been cut. The most profound perspective is that of the rest of the world. Right now America looks weak and impotent. The greatest country in the world unable to properly help it's own...before or after the fact. Hell, atheletes got into the region to help before the government did. On that note, for the uninitiated I just have to mention my utter distrust of the Red Cross. Not to mention that there are several smaller organizations that aren't getting much support...or press. Not only in the direct area but in the cities that some of the evacuees have been shipped to. I hope that more people will start asking critical questions about the lack of proaction and the slow reaction to this situation. I hope that people will consider that the national guard should have been in the country to assist with evacuations beforehand instead of sending people who aren't full-time soldiers into a war. I hope people realize that most of the people who were still in the area and didn't evacuate were too poor to do so. I hope people will not just get through this and after things are rebuilt and consider it a strong moment in our history. I hope that people will learn to look towards the future. Where are we vulnerable? What are we doing in the world that may cause backlash? I hope that people will become involved in their lives on all levels.