Here Today Gone Tomorrow

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

O K, it’s almost time to move on from the Hurricane Katrina story. We’ve had enough, plus everything seems to be going a lot smoother now. NEXT     

News stories are consumed much like the high caloric, high fat containing fast foods of today. Witness what we have been offered the past year: the Lacy Peterson murder trial, the trial of Robert Blake and Michael Jackson, the search for missing girl in Aruba, the Tsunami, subway bombings in London, the steroid scandal in baseball, etc, etc.. We are bounced from one sensational item to the next. We are whisked around the world in seconds to peek in on the next horrible event.

We just don’t have nor take the time to savor what has just been put on our plate. Gee, sorry, don’t have time, got to get back to my rat race. We strive to be more efficient and more productive. I ask you for what? Where are you running to? Look at how efficient we were in this latest disastrous event that occurred in New Orleans, Mississippi and Alabama. It took three days to communicate from the local level to the state level what was needed to help the poor souls that were left behind. “Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink”

We have seen some fast food establishments come up with “Service within 5 minutes, or we’ll refund your money.” Even the Post Office a few years ago came up with something similar because one of the main gripes from customers was the long wait in line. The only difference with them was that they could not offer to give you your money back. Everything is hurry up, let’s go, NEXT.

I think the whole country should take a long pause, take a deep breath and seriously contemplate what has just occurred. We need to take care of all the displaced people to give them some hope for tomorrow. While we’re doing this, we need to start asking questions as to why the breakdown in communications in an age where we can communicate with someone out in space in a matter of seconds but couldn’t do it within the confines of a state.

As we proceed to bury the dead, we need to ask what’s needed in order to avoid this from ever happening again. And as we find answers, I think we’re going to need to ask the people that failed to do their job or were not qualified to do their job to step down. This should cover the leaders at all levels of government.

Keep in mind that where the tsunami victims had very little time to try and save themselves, the victims of this hurricane had ample warning time to leave. Think about establishing what worked for the colonists in this country back in 1775. We need a communicating system much like Paul Revere’s ride. He warned them that the British were coming. The modern day Paul Reveres could warn them of the hurricane is coming and also round up the poor and sick and elderly and take them to a secure shelter.

Lastly, as we reach the stage of rebuilding, we need to take a good long look and see if it’s feasible to build a much better system of levees to protect this area in the future.

In the interim, contribute whatever you can and let’s all pray that this area is spared of any further upheavals whether they be by the weather or by the small percentage of thugs that live in the area.