delayed hope is still hope

ok, so i read in the paper today that mtv, along with a few other organizations, are putting together benefit concerts for the victims of katrina's wrath. one of which is my least favorite, most hated band: Green Day. old green day stuff was alright, but i can't stand the punks since they decide to be politicians with their music now and especially due to the fact that the younger american crowd buys into it w/o even thinking twice about the content of the lyrics. but no matter how you look at it, i'm very thankful and grateful that help is now in the works for those poor people who had their lives wiped clean by the storm.

another development in the relief dealio is that pres. bush is touring today. he actually is stoppin by my town, Mobile, sometime also, which is pretty cool. lots of rescue workers are now present in new orleans and mississippi. this is all well and good, and refutes some of what i said last night about the relief efforts, but then again, the whole concept of what i was discussing last night was this: as soon as the hurricane was past new orleans, media crews from across the nation were showing footage of the destruction to the nation, some were even there reporting during the storm in various parts of the Gulf Coast, ....so why did it take 4 days to get the president down here and finally a good deal of helpers and benefit concerts? i know some of these things can't be thrown together til after all is said and done, such as the benefit concerts being pointless until
they can see how bad the damage is and then see the need for the fund raiser, but even so, many of the other projects goin on now are pretty far behind what i would think the appropriate timeliness would be, but maybe that's just me.

again, keep all these people in your hearts and prayers. take care-

aftermath

so much destruction and damage. lives lost, severed, and ruined. but possibly even worse than the loss of life is the complete loss of hope for so many people. i'm talking about the devastating effect of hurricane katrina from this past week. it is quite a horrific situation, as many of you may have already seen on the news or heard via radio broadcasts.
homes are wiped away, whole shorelines now vanished from what they are in the memories of just a few days ago.
is the government helping enough? too much? i think it would be hard to find someone who takes the latter opinion, though there may be someone ignorant enough to, and if they do then i'd quickly assume that they don't drive a vehichle and thus have not run into the gas price epidimic we are now facing worse than before as a result of this
catastrophe. many would say that Bush and the govm't are not helping out enough with funds and various resources of the sort. it's far too early to be exactly sure what is needed since we still have no way of assessing the total damage and loss simply because the fact that there is such an overwhelming amount of it. so i think that any opinion is a preemptive one that could very possibly be proven erroneous in the future after the dust settles, or more precisely, the water dries. and what do we do about the terrible people running around new orleans looting stores, raping women, and hurting others, especially those that harm or endanger the rescue workers? i don't mind so much when i see on tv someone looting a grocery store for water and some food that they need to survive; that, to me, is understandable and, in my opinion, easily forgiveable. it's not like the food will be any good by the time the store owner gets back, though this isn't my main argument by any means. my chief objection in protecting these people is the single word of 'survival' or another one such as 'neccessity'. these people truly need these food items and water to survive---it's as simple as that, in my eyes. now, for those looting pawn shops and merchandise stores for television sets, stereo systems, and the other 'bling'...shot them. in my reasoning, that's a quick and to the point, easy solution. these people don't care about life; it's obvious that they don't care about their own as they are robbing big screen tvs instead of water and food, and, i would argue, that if someone can't care to keep themselves alive, they certainly have no desire to help anyone else do so.

now, the sidenote i had above about the food being spoiled by the time the owner would get back could be used against me in this regard, conceptually at least. the idea of the item being spoiled, wasted, ruined, or whatever does not cover up the fact that these people are in now way helping sustain the life within new orleans and obviously have no common sense due to the fact that they can't figure out that they won't be able to sell the stuff to anyone or use it because 1)they probably are still in new orleans because they had no means of evacuating, so they probably can't go anywhere to sell the stuff and there is obviously no market in the city for quite some time besides other people that couldnt' even afford to leave the city, and 2) not only can they not sell it, most of it they cannot use; how are they going to enjoy there new satellite?; or how about that new bose system?; i'm sure they could really enjoyt the damage assessment coverage on that big flat screen, plasma TV...if they had a home to watch it in, or cable to plug it in to, or electricity to turn it on. and then on top of all of that, some of them are brazen enough to shoot at the very people trying to help them keep their lives? the thought of that infuriates me. shoot the fools in the face and do society a service.

of course, not all of those left behind could fall into the previous paragraphs topical category, and thank God that they do not, otherwise we'd have much bigger problems than katrina's damage. as for seeing the horrible stories of mother's giving their 2 month old babies to complete strangers in hope that the baby will be able to go on living while they may die, and newly widowed men and women who tried to hold onto their loved ones but couldn't hold on tight enough, or the lady who watched her husband of 53 years collapse on the side of the interstate then die due to lack of food and water, i am angry that it doesn't seem like much is being done. before going any further, i am so thankful for and have the utmost respect for those service men and women volunteering and those that are part of the national guard, red cross and such organizations, coast guard, etc. thank you guys for what you are doing for these people, both the deserving and undeserving ones. however, in light of all that has happened and the magnitude of the situation, it seems as if there should be still more done, which reverts back to the second paragraph that talked about the governement helping enough or not. maybe it's not the govm't that needs to help more, i'm not quite sure at this point because i just got power back today and am still catching up on the news and developments of everything, but whatever the case, there is still more that needs be done. one source that i know isn't helping and should is foreign countries. india said they have nothing to help us with and no reason to do so. if i'm not mistaken, we bent over backwards to raise funds and help them out after the horrible tsunami that occurred several months back. is england our only ally? does america really have no other friends in the world? i pray to God that we find some, because we cannot survive on our own. also, where are the celebrities on this one? i haven't seen or heard of any hollywood fundraisers or benefit dinners or anything of the sort as there was for other disasters. maybe it's because the death toll isn't as high as 9/11 or the tsunami, but the amount of loss is just as great. yes, i know material things in no way can compare to loss of life, but though a victim's hear is still beating and their body can function as normal doesn't mean that their lives aren't ruined, lost, or in shambles. losing your house, some of your family, etc..., basically everything but your very life is, arguably, just as bad, possibly worse. escaping death isn't always the best route or the one chosen by people. that is why there have been numerous suicide reports in new orleans and mississippi; people simply found no more reason to live since the essence of their very lives had been stripped by this storm.

anyways, please comment on what you think in regards to how to handle looters, the government's intervention, and anything else related to this post. thanks, and keep all of the people here in my area in your prayers and thoughts, they need it more than ever. best regards-