Katrina: You Bitch

I’m sitting in front of the computer/television/radio/interocitor like the rest of America, waiting for the latest news. I know all this information, to which I’m hopelessly addicted with no chance of recovery, is the very thing that’s causing my feet to stomp and my scalp to itch in nervousness. Despite it all, however, I find myself in awe of humanity in its calmness and its kindness.

With enough warning, most people simply packed up the things they couldn’t replace with mere money and headed north, bound for hotels or the homes of family and friends. They too are glued to all available forms of media, waiting as if the perky weather girl on channel 10 will say, “As you can see here, the home belonging to Mrs. and Mrs. Sonnier in the Irish Channel is just fine.” If anyone panicked, we didn’t hear about it.

Of course there will be idiots, there always are. We’ll have our Falwell-style idiots claiming divine retribution against “The Big Easy” for letting women bare their breasts, men to consume beverages of an intoxicating nature, and for allowing Vinay to roam the streets unencumbered. You’ll also get your standard jihad-screaming loonies claiming a different kind of divine retribution for allowing women to drive cars and smoke cigarettes, listen to rock music and touch chicken feet on some holy Tuesday afternoon, or something stupid like that. The worst of all, because they'll get thrown onto the pile of bad science of global warming, global cooling, and other undecided stuff that gets far too much credibility with far too little evidence, will be the moonbats that see this disaster as evidence of the failure of the President's environmental policy, as if five years of GWB in the white house has caused the Earth to start breaking shit in retribution for so many people voting Republican. Oh, and we can’t forget the assholes: the looters, the crooks and the profiteers. News reports are already hitting the wires of people breaking into Winn-Dixies and department stores around the city.

Did you know the three top-selling items when people are preparing for a hurricane?
1. bottled water
2. beer
3. strawberry pop-tarts



Despite the idiots and assholes, most people, the ones you won’t read about, will simply leave and hope for the best. They are, like me, reading “hurricane blogs” and watching the television at the same time, though in Portland (as I’m sure is the case with the rest of the country) the news coverage is hyperbolic compared the stuff I can read on the local news wires. “New Orleans under 28 feet of water? Find out at 10 o’clock, only on FOX.”

It seems people are more likely to panic at a soccer riot than a genuine disaster, natural or otherwise. When the shit hits the fan, humanity, by and large, puts aside their differences and starts picking up the pieces. After September 11, 2001, while Palestinians danced feverishly in the streets in celebration, Americans lined up to donate blood and write checks to the Red Cross. When the tsunami hit southeast Asia, the United Nations bickered about who was going to pay for it, while U.S. Army helicopters flew in food and water and private American charities, whose contributions to the cause outweighed the donations of every other country on Earth, began preparations to rebuild the devastated villages.

Humanity is amazing in that it can so easily become a force for purposeful and positive change in times of crisis, especially Americans.

Chin up, y’all. Our hopes and manifestations are with you, and I’m just glad to know that my own family and friends are safe. If you have the time and the scrap to spare, donate a few dollars to help those affected by the disaster. Look here for a list of charities and aid organizations already mobilized alongside our National Guard to provide shelter, food, and water to those in need.