Hope is a Four-letter Word
I am going to try to articulate what I am feeling about the situation in the South. This will not be the most profound essay out there, but it’s my attempt to try to put into words what we are witness to at this moment in regards to the Katrina aftermath. It may be oversimplified but, in my head, I am trying to deconstruct what I see and start at the simplest place for me.One of the most striking aspects to me is that we are supposedly the most affluent, refined, super power in the world and yet we are looking at extreme chaos and despair personified. In one of the most magnificent cities in America, we see utter and complete devastation. Poverty, ignorance, pride and selfishness are responsible for as many deaths as the hurricane itself, in my opinion.
The conditions people are trying to survive in are unfathomable to me. And I am shocked that some people are acting so barbarically.
However, after my initial response–that many people were too poor or too stupid or too stubborn to leave the city before the storm–lay more serious questions. What happened to our society that we are able to so easily abandon our family and neighbors? Why don’t people know who their neighbors are?
I realized last night that I don’t know my neighbors. I wondered as I started knocking on their doors, to borrow some baking soda for the banana bread that I was making, that I haven’t taken the time to say more than hello. If our building suddenly collapsed, I wouldn’t even know their surnames or where their families lived or who to contact and they don’t know a thing about me. I value my privacy, but… If one of them needed a ride out of town should we all need to flee some disaster, natural or otherwise, I wouldn’t hesitate to give it. And they might not hesitate to give me a ride, but would they offer or would they wait for me to ask? And I am one of the fortunate ones, because I have resources, I have money, I have a car and I have the desire to leave my home behind to ensure the safety of my family. What about those who are living near me and unable to drive, live in a wheelchair, are bed bound, et cetera? Who is looking out for them?
What happened that we are so protective of our things that we don’t want to leave any of it behind anyway? What do we have that is truly irreplaceable? Each other. That’s all I can think of.
What happened that our country is so focused on ‘homeland security’ but can’t get a grip on this rescue operation? This disaster makes 9/11 look like a walk in the park, if you ask me. There were places for people to go, there was communication, water, electricity; basic human needs were met in a relatively short period of time. Looting was minimal. No one was shooting at rescue workers. People weren’t raping one another. There was appropriate leadership and an organized response to the disaster.
The situation in New Orleans and vicinity is truly horrible because we can’t seem to organize a rescue effort. FEMA just called off its boat rescue operations because the conditions are too difficult. People are dying from lack of clean water, food, a place to sleep and a place to poop. Others are dying because they need dialysis or insulin or they rely on oxygen to breathe and have run out.
Rescue workers are in no better shape than the rescuees. Their lives have been threatened. They need places to eat and sleep and poop. Houston and San Antonio have offered places for some people to stay but that is not going to be enough. Where is the help? Why aren’t average Americans offering their couches and their spare bedrooms to people who do manage to get out of the area? Maybe they are and I just haven’t heard about it yet. I realize just getting out of the city is logistically difficult to the nth degree, but where is the outpouring of support?
What made America great? Rugged individualism? Perhaps. What we are seeing here is rugged individualism at it’s worst. The very fabric of a civilized society has been ripped and shredded and now we are seeing people acting out in ways that we think are limited to third-world countries. We think we rise above the most difficult circumstances to come together and help out. We think that we can take the very worst that Mother Nature can dish out. But guess what? Sometimes we don’t rise above the circumstances; sometimes we sink to new depths and sometimes Mother Nature can throw us a whammy that we aren’t prepared for even if we think we are.
We are watching on live television, people dying slow, painful deaths because they didn’t have the resources or the wherewithal to get out before the city was destroyed. Make no mistake; this city is damaged beyond comprehension. We will rebuild it and it will be a shiny, happy place again. But in the meantime, we are just sitting and watching this play out like some bad disaster film.
[I am not going to address the economic impact, the fact that over a million people are now homeless, jobless, school-less. That is a concern but it is secondary. And who the hell really cares that the New Orleans Saints football team is homeless?]
We can rebuild and repair the damage. Time and money will take care of that. But I am interested in knowing how we will restore civility and humanity in the meantime; how we will take care of those in need; how we will pull together to overcome one of the most severe hardships we’ve seen in our lifetime.
I hope we do. I hope this nightmare ends soon for all of those suffering. And I hope we take a minute to talk to our neighbors to say more than ‘hello’ and really get to know who they are. I hope that today hope is not a four-letter word.
posted by Anita at
10:36 AM
4 comment(s):
Beautiful post, Q. You are getting at the underneath. These are questions that I have been asking for years. What the hell happened to humanity? There was a time when this catastrophe, though still disastrous, wouldn't have had such a huge impact because there was community. People actually did care about each other in a personal way.
My feeling about this disaster is exactly the same as yours. When asking how we can help with this tragedy, we are asking the wrong question. We should be asking how we can help ourselves become more human again so that tragedies like this become more manageable on a personal level.
All the federal aid in the world won't solve the underlying problem, and I, for one, am glad that you had the cajones to bring this issue up. It is an unpopular view, especially in light of the situation, but it also happens to be true (as is often the case with unpopular views).
Kudos to you!
By
Anonymous, at
12:09 PM
I did. Even though I'm a thousand or so miles away. You can sign up to house a family here: http://www.hurricanehousing.org/
By
Anonymous, at
6:07 PM
You should submit that as an op-ed piece to your local paper. Beautifully written, dear friend.
LJ
By
Anonymous, at
8:38 PM
It's so true...We are so disconnected. I know my internet friends...better then i know my neighbors.
By
Anonymous, at
11:16 AM
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