On Katrina and her aftermath

I've never been to the Gulf Coast. And I tend to look at human disasters in relative terms. So as horrible as terrorism and domestic natural disasters are, they do pale in comparison to the kind of things most of us really only see on the news if we get images of them at all: famine, civil wars, massive earthquakes that kill tens of thousands of people, Indian Ocean cyclones, and of course the tsunami of late 2004 in which nearly 180,000 died. Yeah, these things are all bad, but how can you compare what kills 3,000 people (regardless of how dramatically) with what kills 30,000? Except on the individual level, maybe you can't. But what happens closer to home hits all that much harder.

What we tend not to see at all is the suffering experienced by the survivors. But something about this week's catastrophic hurricane in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida has struck me in a way that even these massive death-causing events have not. Maybe it's the proliferation of amateur video and right-on-the-spot reporting, but putting myself in the shoes of the survivors I can't help but hurt for them. So what tears us apart so much more about what happens in the U.S., compared to something of an order of magnitude worse that happens in a faraway land? Is it really just the proximity to us, happening here in our own country, even in a part of it where I've never been and where I personally know essentially nobody? I dunno.

How would I respond if, God forbid, I found myself in that situation? Already it seems like I am in such a "privileged" position that would, unlike we fear for so many of those in MS, AL, & LA, probably allow me to survive such a calamity. I have a car. I've got no financial concerns that would prevent me from filling my gas tank and getting out of town, maybe even with my most valuable material possessions. But if I were stranded, with no power, no transportation, running out of fresh water and edible food? My situation could be as precarious as that of anyone now hanging on to life in the Gulf Coast, I guess. Will these realizations change the way I live my life? Probably they should - I ought to be more thankful, for one thing. Not thankful that these other people I'll never know are suffering instead of me. What a horrible thought! No, just thankful every day for the very basic things that I am so often overlooking while obsessing over such frivolous things that I have no business complaining about not having.

No doubt, though, I'll have these suffering people heavy on my mind and in my prayers as I go on pilgrimage this coming weekend. A much more appropriate thing to have on my mind than my own petty little annoyances.

If the spirit moves you and you're wondering what we might do, I guess a good start would be to donate the cost of a nice restaurant meal to a reliable charity. Here's some possibilities:

Catholic Charities, USA
Phone: 1-703-549-1390
www.catholiccharitiesusa.org

International Orthodox Christian Charities, Inc.
Phone: 1-410-243-9820
www.iocc.org

American Red Cross
Phone: 1-800-HELP NOW (435-7669) English
Pnone: 1-800-257-7575 Spanish
www.redcross.org

Hang on out there, everybody. And take care of each other, no matter where you are today.