Searching for Hope in a river of Despair

In recent weeks our entire nation has been focused on the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. the hurricane violently swept in on the gulf regions of Louisiana and Missisippi leaving hundreds dead, and hundreds of thousands without a home or most of their belongings.

In the minds of many, though, the real tragedy has been the grossly inadequate preparation and pathetically slow response to this disaster. Tens of thousands of poor, indigent, and sick residents and patients in the region were either unable or chose not to evacuate in time. Then the hurricane ripped through, violently smashing homes, cars, boats and property in addition to claiming many lives.

For nearly five days, the victims huddled in the few gathering places they could find- the grossly overcrowded, now heavily damaged Superdome, the similarly ravaged Convention Center, and other places. All too many did not make it out of their homes, and were forced to swim or wade through polluted flood water filled with toxic chemicals, human and animal waste, and even an alarming number of dead bodies.

Even more troubling to many was the fact that media news crews converged on the scene to report and document the developing story within several hours after the storm hit, but the National Guard, most relief workers, and federal authorities did not arrive until more than 3 days later.

Many Americans were shocked and horrified to see thousands of people languishing for days on rooftops with no food or potable water. We are now hearing of hospitals and nursing care facilities that were unable or failed to evacuate patients and residents, only to have many of them go without needed treatments for days, and several dozen of them die.

This hurricane was devastating beyond human comprehension or expectation, so it is understandable that the demand for response would be overwhelming and difficult to effectively address. Still, this tragedy has also laid bare much tension and ineptitude. Tension from the feeling of many that the lethargic response was in part due to the fact that most of the people affected were of low income backgrounds, and also many if not most were people of color. Ineptitude, because many failures contributed to the abysmal response.

Some of these failures include significant cuts to federal disaster preparation funding in recent years; as well as repeated calls for strengthening the levees which went unheeded. State and local officials also clearly could have done more, however, the burden of preparing for responding effectively to a disaster of such magnitude must be shouldered largely by federal agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The former director of FEMA had been appointed to the post by President Bush, despite having no professional experience in coordinating disaster management and response. Interestingly, the lionshare of the blame from the Bush administration has been shifted to Mr. Brown, with the president making speeches and grand pronouncements in between photo opportunities in a pathetic effort to somehow salvage his own rapidly tarnishing image.

Mr. Bush responded with an allocation of disaster relief funding of $52 billion, despite the fact that costs of the disaster are initially estimated at more than $200 billion at the very least. All the while, the president continues to quietly advance his agenda of eliminating the estate tax, a move that mainly benefits the wealthiest 5% of Americans, yet will cost our nation nearly $1 trillion over the next ten years, if approved as anticipated.

In contrast to this seeming incongruence, there has been a tremendously generous outpouring of support from relief organizations such as the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and other charities. In addition, many religious congregations have opened their doors and homes to the victims of Katrina, in a response of great compassion.

In one sense, this tragedy has revealed an ever-widening divide in America between the haves and have nots or have littles. Of course, when our president, in speeches to supporters paying $5000 a plate toward his political warchest, says that he considers "the haves and the have mores," his "base," that reveals a lot about the real agenda behind all the rhetoric.

With over 1000 references in scripture to caring for the poor, needy, and "least of these," politicians that claim to be people of faith, yet pass laws and promote policies that hurt most middle and low income Americans have a lot of seriousl soul searching to do.

Even the elder Mrs. Bush, added fuel to the fire in an unwitting series of statements to thousands of displaced hurricane victims in the Astrodome, where she suggested that these folks, having come from poverty, would somehow have it better now that they were homeless.

We need to return to the core beliefs of faith- of caring for our neighbors (meaning all people in need), and supporting justice for the least of these. Anything less is hypocrisy, and misses the mark that the great figures of our faiths have set for us.

Peace,

John