What I'm Really Learning From College

Not everything I post here can be funny. If you can't handle that, dont read this one.

Note: I began to write this post on Sunday evening, but had to abandon it because my shift at work was up.... sadly, this situation is, and will continue, to get worse.

For most of last weekend I have been in a funk because of Hurricane Katrina. Partially because of the horrible tragedy that is taking place in the Gulf States, but also (the journalism side of me) because I doubt very much that most Americans my age (or Americans in general) have an accurate idea of what is going on down there.

For those of you who don't know, on the weekends I work at NPR. Sunday morning and afternoon I had to sit idly by while reports of tragedy and horror poured into the station from the AP and NPR in Washington D.C.

Several news reports centered around the National Guard, and how they were just arriving to the disaster zone to assist the Coast Guard's efforts. Mind you, this is six days after Katrina hit, is the National Guard sent in. Anyway, many of the reports were coming in that they had just that afternoon, started evacuating people trapped on rooftops. My God, I thought, these people can not have possibly been neglected for almost a week. The longer the day went on, however, I found out this was painfully true.

On the Sunday NBC show, Meet the Press, Tim Russert had a guest on who worked in New Orleans; he recounted a heart wrenching tale. Below is the text from the Reuters story about it.

"The guy who runs this building I'm in, the emergency management, who's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said are you coming, son, is somebody coming," Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, said as he burst into heavy sobbing on NBC's Meet the Press program.

"And he said 'yeah mama, somebody's coming to get ya, somebody's coming to get ya on Tuesday, somebody's coming to get ya on Wednesday, somebody's coming to get ya on Thursday, somebody's coming to get you on Friday.'

"And she drowned Friday night, she drowned Friday night. Nobody's coming to get us."
"Nobody's coming to get us, nobody's coming to get us," Broussard said through tears.

Here is a link to the video.

Throughout the rest of the day there were several more reports from those left behind in New Orleans, many were similarly gut-wrenching. Not among them were the reports of our President being on vacation when New Orleans was left to fend for itself and then, ever graciously, cutting his vacation 24 hours short.

Dr. Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor? After the hurricane hit, she was at a Broadway production of Spamalot, a Monty Python musical. After she received some fallout from this, Ms. Rice released statement supporting the current administration's handling of the situation.

It is early Tuesday (September 6th) as I write this. Think the situation is getting better? Here is what the president's mother (while touring the area with her son) had to say:

And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

While the governmental response bothers me, something else bothers me more. The numerous reports of rapes, murders, and beatings, etc. coming out of New Orleans: Is this the true nature of mankind. When it all comes down to it, is this what we are reduced to? Are we really by nature these terrible animals that steal, rape, and kill when given the 'right' circumstance?

Only one local news story has made me seriously think otherwise, that man may just be good at heart with evil tendencies, and not the other way around. It is a report of the first bus to arrive at the Houston Astrodome. The full story is here (video here). If you don't want to take the tie to read/watch it, here's the gist. An 18 year old kid in New Orleans came across an abandoned school bus. Having never driven a bus before, he took it, and drove around New Orleans, collecting passengers until the bus was packed to the max. He drove seven hours straight to the Houston Astrodome, where refugees were being transported. He also beat the chartered busses that had been scheduled for much longer to take refugees from New Orleans there.

Law enforcement officials are talking about arresting this kid for taking the bus; pardon my opinion, but I think he should get a god damn medal.

If you watch CNN, I'm sure you have heard of many more stories as equally infuriating, saddening, and uplifting as these.

I do not pretend to be an expert on disaster relief - I am only a college senior who will probably join the Corps when he graduates. I am neither, by any means a religious man. However, if you gave a little prayer and a little extra cash for the Gulf, I know it certainly won't hurt anything. The monetary equivalent of at least a burrito or beer at your favorite restaraunt/bar isn't going to bankrupt you. You can donate here or at the Red Cross's site. You can also bring your spare change to collection bins at Wal*Mart.