Unanswered Questions

I, like most of America, have been glued to the television and internet watching, with utter disbelief and anguish what is going on in New Orleans. Everytime I think of devastation and hopeless of the situation, I cry - like I am now.

I cry for the elderly whose eyes have seen so much, who has struggled through the civil rights movement, who worked so hard with so little to show -- for their lives to end on a lawn chair in the squalor of the New Orleans Super Dome just doesn't make sense to me.

I cry for the mothers - not just for those who don't know where their children are but for the ones holding a child in their arms that they can neither feed, cloth, nor house.

I cry because for as long as a live and regardless of the academic degrees and accolades I attain, I will never understand the concept of the have and the have nots. I can't seem to wrap my mind around the notion that that's "just the way it is." Life for some, myself included, is void of any real struggle. Sure I've had my share of disappointments and heartaches but I've never had to wonder where I was going to call home. I've never had to wonder how I was going to feed or clothe myself. I've never had to become intimate with the concept of nothing. And yet for some, life has been one agonizing lesson of deficiency and lack. Of all the hurricanes to hit Florida, why couldn't this happen to the millionaires who would've only lost summer abodes and beach houses? Why can the camera take the pictures of those waiting to be rescued but can't get to them? Once the questions start, there's seemingly no end.


A modern metropolis sinking in water and into anarchy -- it is a really cruel spectacle for a champion of security like Bush. Right? I'm not sure why there is so much criticism of Dubya and his response. What did people expect for a man that stole the whitehouse by disenfranchising minority voters in some states? What did we expect from a man who won't acknowledge that we're fighting a war that has no enemy and no barometer for success? Bush is completely unworthy of my blogging time so I'm done with that.

What has sustained my spirit has been the response of the common folk; our understanding that even the smallest deeds make a difference. On Friday, my small team of some 100 people shipped over 40 huge boxes of relief items to our team member in Louisiana for distribution. Some of the items donated were brand new clothing still with tags. People had actually gone shopping for toiletries and underclothing. Totally unexpecting this outpouring of generosity, we were more than worried that we wouldn't be able to afford to ship it all. These boxes were 50+ pound computer boxes; they could have easily been thousands of dollars to ship. We shared our concern with someone working in the mailroom and he shipped each and every box, overnight and free of charge.... these are the act of kindness that have encouraged my soul and made me want to do more.

Although everyone is not in a position to give materially or take in an evacuee, we can all pray. Pray for understanding. Pray for unity. Pray for a resolution. Pray that those who can do, will do. Pray that for as long as we live and as long as I children live, we will never know the suffering those in the Gulf States are feeling today.