Sunday, September 04, 2005

Faith and Hurricanes or Any Other Natural Disaster

Today, while in church many thoughts and emotions passed thru my head particularly when we took up a special offering for the victims of hurricane Katrina. This is truly a terrible tragedy BUT much of it could have been avoided. Hindsight is always perfect and it would appear that it is much easier to condemn and criticize others rather than take responsibility for one's self. Many of the people who are crying for help from the federal government never raised one finger to get themselves out of harms way before the hurricane hit. Parties were held celebrating the coming hurricane and people even went to watch the water rise from the storm surge. Many people will condemn me for my opinion but if they stop and think about what they would do in a disaster situation they would agree. The Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana had plenty of time to order evacuations but instead they told everyone that they had dodged a bullet. Then when all hell came down upon them, instead of admitting that they screwed up, they blamed George Bush for being slow to act. Give me a break. If my family was facing a natural disaster, I would move heaven and earth to get them out danger before it hit. You may say that these are poor people who don't have any money. Most of them probably had at least one TV set which could be pawned for enough money to get them to Baton Rouge. A bus ticket is only $27 dollars. And when they got to Baton Rouge the Red Cross would take care of them. But did anyone do such a thing, hell no. It was easier to sit on their fat asses drinking beer, smoking cigarettes and watching TV.

Those around me will tell you that I have three passions in life. My Faith, my Family and Fishing. My Faith tells me that all that I have belongs to God and if he decided tomorrow to take it all away, I would accept that and move on. None of us need more than food, water and a few clothes and God will always provide BUT even God expects us to work to get it.

Is it true what some say, that God is punishing New Orleans for a lifestyle of debauchery? Maybe, but what Katrina did point out is that people raised on welfare will die before they will save themselves. Maybe, Katrina will help the survivors by forcing them to go to other states that don't support welfare as much as Louisiana. There they will have to get jobs and become productive citizens instead of parasites living off the rest of us.

Welfare like labor unions, had a place in our society at one time, maybe during the Great Depression, but not anymore. If this country offers such great promise to everyone outside her borders, then why can't the people born here see it too.

Robert