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I have been watching the news faithfully regarding Hurricane Katrina
for several reasons. First and for most because I have a special
friend who is a New Orleans Police Officer (which I have just
received news that he is fine, his words, "I am in the war zone but
doing ok"). Secondly, it is eerie for me since my first job offer
was in St. Charles Parrish. I am a Canadian nurse that was recruited
to the USA several years back and opted to go to Texas instead.
Third, because I am a compassionate person that feels the need to be
doing something to help this crisis at hand.
As many, I was very frustrated being so close to this disaster
(Dallas) and feeling helpless to those in need. I had talked to my
friend the night before the disaster, he sounded so tired but
reassured me that it was going to be ok. I asked him why he hadn't
left yet, he told me he couldn't due to his duty on the force, then
reminded me that I wouldn't have been able to either if I was there.
An instant chill went through out me, knowing how close I was to
choosing St Charles Parrish some time ago. I did a lot of soul
searching that night, thinking how hard it would be to not only stay
but to not even go home to check on my pets and loved ones, grateful
for the choices I made.
Just like everyone else, I watched one disaster turn into another
disaster, feeling helpless, then worry, then anger wondering why
nothing appeared to be happening. I have been watching the news
faithfully, watching the media go from broadcasting the crisis to
then all the finger pointing that was beginning to dominate the
media and have found myself getting more and more outraged.
Everybody needs to stop pointing fingers at everyone and look at
themselves, look at the type of society we have become. Reality is,
our society, from the top of the government to our own homes, has
become like a herd of sheep. I do not mean to be crude or insulting
when I say this so please hear my reasoning behind it.
The government is a hierarchy of very organized sanctions, each
sanction having protocols to follow. I think the chain of command
has never really been questioned before this disaster because
typically, it's never been us. We have always been the one going to
other countries aid, Even when rescuing others, we have always
required a few days to get through the "red tape" and then proceed
on our actions, as we are seeing now in Gulf. This is not an excuse,
there is no excuse for the delay that happened, but this something
that I have faith that the government will assess this disaster, and
try to come up with better solutions, lets just hope it doesn't
result in creating more "red tape".
I can only imagine how much this must have been a horrific ordeal
for everyone, my heart truly goes out for all those affected. Not a
day goes by that I am praying for my friend who is trying to
maintain law and order in all of this chaos. But I keep asking
myself one question, why did the people who got stranded in the
flood not display more productive survival skills? Or, and at least,
use their instincts of basic human survival to better handle their
crisis at hand. We all have watched reality TV, watched people eat
horrid things, or have put themselves into very primitive
environments, with only their basic skills to depend on, with the
hopes of winning money. I am not at all comparing this disaster to
anything seen on reality TV either, but I can't help but wonder why
the people that survived didn't naturally try to flee away from
danger? This includes the danger that was present at the dome, the
danger of not having food and water, the danger of disease.
I understand there were those injured, those elder, those too young
to help themselves, but then there were many that could have made a
more productive with trying to survive. Yes I understand the modes
of survival --> you do what you have to do to survive. If that meant,
leaving a roof top and wade in dirty water to dryer safer land, I
would do so, I know that my loved one was out of pocket, my mind
would be racing trying to figure out how to look for them, if it
meant swimming, or to try to find something to float on or make
something to float on. Granted there may be nothing I could you, but
I know i would be trying everything I could. I am sure some did do
this. If I had made it to the dome, saw the mayhem there, I would be
keep walking or wading through the waters. Surviving the hurricane,
losing everything in the flood, as ignorant as it may be, my
survival mode would have kicked in to get the hell out of there.
Where? I wouldn't care.
I understand about those with addictions, and even understand those
with deviant tendencies, in reference to the driving force to the
looting, yet again, even criminals have those they would be worried
about, their own survival needs. It may be possible that many at the
dome felt they were somewhat safe, knew where their loved ones were
if their were any. I wondered about all of this while I watched the
media show all the chaos that was happening, people murdering
people, gang formations, girls being raped, looting etc. It was very
sad to see how dependent our society, a major city of the United
States of America, the country of opportunity, fell into total
chaos. Yes the response was slow but people need to keep in mind
that it appears that those stronger did not use this "down time" im
being more productive. Then again, why would they? We have become so
dependent, we have crippled ourselves from having basic common
survival skills. Yet another angle to look at was the information
that was being given to rest of us, the media. I have always used
CNN as my tool for finding out accurate information on anything that
is going on in the world. This is the first time I have actually
seen the "witch hunt" taking place. I do keep in mind that the media
is controlling our exposure to the crisis at hand.
This example goes to show you that maybe we, the USA need to better
prepare our people rather than spend so much energy placing blame. I
wished we had seen more civilians step up with the attitude of Army
Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who is very clearly a leader and a
productive one at that.
I have always thought the best thing we can do for our youth is to
implement a program that makes it mandatory for people to have one
year of the military experience to teach them better survival
skills, leadership, the ability to take orders, to give them the
incentive and skills to strive to be "the best they can be". Yes I
know this will probably never happen because this is a country of
freedom, but I have to wonder if many of the people had some of
these skills, would there have been so much chaos? I shudder to
think how a strong country like we perceived to be, would act if
were suddenly dealt with a global disaster either made by man or
nature.
I know that someone I care about is and trying to protect the city
that he takes so much pride in. So lets try to get this horrible
disaster fixed, then later, reflect on how things can be fine tuned
when the time is right to reflect and learn, rather than wasting
precious energy to figure out who is to blame. I know that I am
proud of how we are all coming together as a family to help everyone
in this situation, this includes those who were able to evacuate but
still lost everything, to those that had to live through the
hurricane first hand, to those that have to remain there to repair
it.
Hind site is amazing isn't it? EVERYBODY WAS WAITING TO BE TOLD WHAT
TO DO!! Let's hope we have learned from this, so lets show it rather
than than trying to target anybody to blame for it, division at this
time of need is even more ignorant than the errors we have all made.
I think that is why I associated our society as sheep, everyone
waiting to be guided, yet not enough stepping up to do so, from the
government to the people. Many that I know have the skills to do so
but yet the chain of command so strict that nobody seemed to think
to deviate from it. God help us if the reality is that we have
become a society lacking such basic skills. I think everybody should
make an effort to watch and learn from this special that will be on
9/11/05 regarding the the heroes on that one plane that decided to
try to take back control of their disaster on that horrible day 9-11
that still haunts us today.
Thank you for allowing me to speak my mind, and in a final note, I
applaud Mayor Ray Nagin for his actions in this crisis, granted he
may have originally been acting on the same chains of commands I
have already spoken about, but he did reach a point where he stepped
away from it and voiced his need for help, I know he was acting with
his heart, his instinct, to plead for help for his city and people.
My prayers are with you Harry and God Bless all of You,
Lynne McGee
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