Katrina — Emotional Reactions — Thoughts

Well I haven’t really commented on anything that is going on down in the Gulf States but after listening to the radio on the way into work this morning I somewhat feel inclined to have to comment.

Emotionally I feel for the people effected, I ache that they’ve lost their worldy possesions but most of all I suffer with them through the not knowing. I hear and read story after story about mothers seperated from children, families divided and their inability to get any information about the location of their loved ones and this makes me hurt inside, I’ve cried more reading and watching news stories about these children in the last week then I have in years. My heart goes out to them, each and every one…

On a less emotional level I’ve been looking at the timelyness (or lack there of) of the response from all of the Emergency Reaction teams. I understand that they didn’t expect things to be this bad, but isn’t FEMA’s mission to be ready to react to the worst case senarios? Why weren’t they ready? I’ve seen people point to the class/race factor as the major contributor but I can’t see this being true. Do I feel that there may have been a faster reaction if say Boston were struck? NO and my reason is that a large percentage of the oil imported into the United States comes through the New Orleans port, if there is one thing that we have learned our leaders will fight for its oil. So why did it take so long? The only thing I can come up with is because our focus is not internal but external. While I agree in many ways that a large part of our focus needs to be on what is happening in the developing econimies (India, China, SE Asian in general) I think we need to put less focus there and more focus on what is truely wrong with our own internal workings. I know I’m not smart enough to determine a plan that balances the needs of the many against the suffering of the few, but I do know that “We the People” need to make our voices heard to truely affect the changes that need to happen. Our government was formed on the principle that the people’s voice should be the loudest noise in setting government policy. With our president’s approval rating continuing to plummet isn’t it time that he took at look at what the people were telling him, rather then continuing down a path that we obviously do not agree with??

I just wish people would stand up, write their senators, congress people and let them know where the focus needs to be. I don’t think that the people that hold office today are “bad people” they are just led by beliefs that do not conform with the majority of the American Public…