My memory is muddy, what's this river that I'm in
I try as hard as I can to give people the benefit of the doubt. I'm also told I can be gullible at times. I love New Orleans and Biloxi. In fact, I just returned from there.
So you can understand why I want so much to believe that it wasn't sheer stupidity that allowed New Orleans to be destroyed. I'm struggling, with all my might, to understand why someone thought it would be a good idea to herd 10,000 poor, uneducated, hungry, frightened, desperate people into a cavernous concrete building that lay directly in the path of an oncoming hurricane.
I'm trying so hard not to scream, "What did you think would happen?"
And then I read this article from Scientific American.
Let me tell you a joke I heard a long time ago, before any of this happened:
A man hears the news that a great flood is on the way. He says, "I am not afraid, for God will save me." His neighbours leave their homes, and ask him to come with them. He replies, "I will stay in my home, and God will save me." It starts to rain. The waters rise. The man climbs onto his roof. Someone floats by in a boat and shouts, "Come with me, and I will take you to safety." The man shouts back, "Thank you, but God will save me." The water keeps rising. A helicopter flies overhead, and drops a line to the man, but he shouts to them, "Thank you, but God will save me."
The water keeps rising, and the man drowns.
At the Pearly Gates, the man is sadly shaking his head in disbelief. He says to St. Peter, "What did I do? Why am I here? The Bible says I had to do was have faith, and I did, and yet God did not save me."
St. Peter is taken aback. "That doesn't sound right. If you'll wait just a minute, I'll go check with God." He returns a few minutes later and says to the man, "God says he sent you help from your neighbours, a boat, and a helicopter. What more do you want?"
* * *
In the next story, Postmodern Sass writes about her cat, Mokie, and tries not to think about all the cats that died in New Orleans this week. And wonders why it is that the last time there was a great flood, she also wrote a story about her cat.
So you can understand why I want so much to believe that it wasn't sheer stupidity that allowed New Orleans to be destroyed. I'm struggling, with all my might, to understand why someone thought it would be a good idea to herd 10,000 poor, uneducated, hungry, frightened, desperate people into a cavernous concrete building that lay directly in the path of an oncoming hurricane.
I'm trying so hard not to scream, "What did you think would happen?"
And then I read this article from Scientific American.
Let me tell you a joke I heard a long time ago, before any of this happened:
A man hears the news that a great flood is on the way. He says, "I am not afraid, for God will save me." His neighbours leave their homes, and ask him to come with them. He replies, "I will stay in my home, and God will save me." It starts to rain. The waters rise. The man climbs onto his roof. Someone floats by in a boat and shouts, "Come with me, and I will take you to safety." The man shouts back, "Thank you, but God will save me." The water keeps rising. A helicopter flies overhead, and drops a line to the man, but he shouts to them, "Thank you, but God will save me."
The water keeps rising, and the man drowns.
At the Pearly Gates, the man is sadly shaking his head in disbelief. He says to St. Peter, "What did I do? Why am I here? The Bible says I had to do was have faith, and I did, and yet God did not save me."
St. Peter is taken aback. "That doesn't sound right. If you'll wait just a minute, I'll go check with God." He returns a few minutes later and says to the man, "God says he sent you help from your neighbours, a boat, and a helicopter. What more do you want?"
In the next story, Postmodern Sass writes about her cat, Mokie, and tries not to think about all the cats that died in New Orleans this week. And wonders why it is that the last time there was a great flood, she also wrote a story about her cat.
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