katrina: what the meaning of we is

It's the most basic thing: Us. We.

It has manifested itself in thousands of ways over the last few days, including untold tales of sacrifice and courage, of despair and loss, and it will manifest itself in thousands of ways in the days and weeks to come.

When push comes to shove, the most basic question you ask yourself when faced with another person in need....are they a part of my "we"...are they included in the scope of my compassion...will I extend myself, will I risk myself, for them?

In the aftermath of Katrina, it's clear that we are in this together. One look at the Gulf Coast, at the message boards searching for the missing, at the footage of children STILL being rescued from rooftops in New Orleans...and all of us can see the our 'we' is going to be tested and stretched in the days and months to come. A time will come when the enormity of what's been lost will be clear.

All that talk about no one ever asking us to sacrifice after 9/11, well, now's the time we're all going to have to start. Believe it. Katrina will have enormous unforeseen consequences we are just beginning to understand, and, let's face it, our government is scrambling just to talk in complete sentences.

You see, we're in this together, and we're all going to have to sacrifice and admit mistakes if we're going to see this through to the other side.

Someone better tell the President.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hell, no, don't tell the preznit anything. He'll just screw it up like he has everything else he's tried doing in the last five and a half years. Best thing for him to do is get his sorry arse back to Tejas and "clear" some more "brush" on his "ranch."
NYBri said…
We are going to have to forget the president at this point...he is irrelevent...a no-show. So we have to think of the suffering and go on without the government for now. Our anger (and I'm speaking to myslef, here as well) isn't going to serve anyone well.

We are all on our own, here. We can't look to D.C. for any help. I'll be glad if they don't get in the way.

These are dark times, Kid. Dark, dark times. I wrote a piece last Sunday called The Gathering Storm. It's already out of date. It's now more like The Arriving Storm.

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