Katrina

I have been following the trail of destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina with a growing sense of dread and sadness. The fury she unleashed on the hapless costal towns on the Gulf of Mexico is something that will be etched in our minds forever. What makes the images shown even more disturbing to me is that I recently visited New Orleans. A charming city, extremely laid back and with a character of its own. I could identify the downtown area from the images and to think we indulged in such revelry just a couple of months ago in what is now an uninhabitable landmass inudundated with sea water and strewn with floating bodies makes me shudder.

It's been a truly trying time for the rest of the American people as well, having to cope with a disaster so close to home. Or has it?? Personally, I find the reaction of the people and the media quite perplexing. Yesterday, a newscaster, I think he was from CNN, was quizzing the Governor of Lousiana on the tragedy. Pretty routine questions, until he came up with this stinker, " So tell us Governor, even two hundred years from now are we going to be at the mercy of elements of
nature like this? Are we going to remain as inept as a third-world country like Bangladesh?"
What the fuck does that mean boyo?? That you don't really care about Bangladeshi people drowning in floods? That 200 years from now, Bangladeshis can drown but Americans must be saved? To me that statement represents the American attitude :we can conquer all and while we are at it damn the rest of the world to hell!Tell me Mr. Newscaster, don't pain and suffering transcend countries? Isn't every life worth the same, be it American, Swedish or Sri Lankan? Isn't compassion universal?

"This is our Tsunami", claims the mayor of Mississipi. To me that's rather like a teacher comparing unfavorably, to his face, the mental ability of a dyslexic kid to the brightest student in the class. Somehow, one just gets the feeling that the American media is looking for a disaster to call their own, to claim that they have been victimized as much as the "Third-World" countries.Tell me Mr. Mayor, what purpose did that statement serve other than bring back painful memories everyone is trying to leave behind?

Grow up! Take a leaf out of the book of all those who up gave so much of theirs to people half world away. Learn to love. Religion divides, boundaries divide, languages divide. But life is one...I will weep for every American who died as I will for every Indian or every Bangladeshi.