Chapter 15 Self-Sacrifice... Prior to Hurricane Katrina... No one but a Terrorist could have imagined the words American Refugees used to describe the plight of thousands of US citizens on American soil. Some Contradictions to Our Americanism come and go, but the lessons from the leveling of one of Americas cultural playgrounds MUST not be forgotten. Our Nations literal and figurative underbelly was prolifically exposed when Hurricane Katrina shook, stirred and redefined the way we and the World assess the Land of Opportunity. Long after the last shingle is fastened, consequences will continue to be felt by those of US who watched in awe as the least of our neighbors forced us to take a good-hard, long look at them... And at US. For the first time in my life, We The People collectively experienced disgrace and sadness as the refugees were at long last a reflection of the unequal American Self... not war torn Somalia or Beirut, poverty stricken Indonesia and Vietnam... No, this was Mardi Gras Central. If ever we needed the winds of destruction to become the winds of change this was the time. Yet after Hurricane Katrina, we witness a deepening of the same... The same poverty, the same political ineptitude, the same pattern of blame and the same rampant shame on US. You can fault Bush, Brown and FEMA if you are so inclined. But my outrage extends to all of US for missing a priceless opportunity to show to ourselves first and then to the rest of the world what happens when we lose an American City. Disastrously, I believe... in place of triumph for US, we advanced a predictable modern day American response to destruction... More Bombs. Mostly political and racial this time, but all the same new charges amplified the decimation with continued aftershocks of political advantage and distraction. Remember This: Only when terrorists know destruction brings American progress and enlightenment... will they be forced to change their tactics and hearts. The plan... the response... the incompetence... the racism... the whatever your political or social persuasion would have you call it, lacked a fundamental faith in The People that could have revealed the solutions to Our inexcusable poverty and causes of social separation. How was it that those whose cities and towns were destroyed, werent universally called upon to rebuild them... Giving the previously disenfranchised poor a mandate to build their stake for the very first time. This was the one instance full attention of the American People was given to the least of our neighbors. And perhaps at long last with Our focus they would come to know their Nation did indeed depend upon them...Too. At our core, Americans are a compassionate people. And after the disgraceful attempt at initial aid, we rushed to heap comfort and consolation on thousands of victims and in doing so may have relegated some of them to that status for a lifetime. One had only to watch news clips of those holed up in hotels and motels... giving in to a steady diet of vending machine food to know what we showed wasnt compassion. Even from a distance it was easy to see the enveloping Fear in their eyes void of any expectation of purpose and strength. But there were other choices for all of US. And found within them was the base structure of Confidence and Self indelibly known to all who could have rebuilt their own New Orleans. If there was Never Before good reason for money or job training and developing skills... there certainly became one. Remember This: Choice of self-expansion over self-defeat is the thin line between Victim and Hero. As they and US sat idly by and pondered their status as victims and refugees... Did anyone wonder when a leader would step forward and call for their participation? To demand they too play a role in creating the Blueprint for future American Loss. Of course they felt no comfort, as we all knew the generosity of the American People would shift with our attention at some moment in time. And without their individual plan for a W.A.Y. Beyond, there was no reason to believe in Hope or to stop feeding the fear. This rebuilding strategy lacked a basic faith in the Equality of each person. Surely new policies conceived with the expectation of individual contribution and self-expansion could have diminished decades of discrimination and self-loathing. Hopelessness should have been washed away by Katrinas surge... revealing the equality ALWAYS hidden behind inspired effort and sweat. In the seven years following Katrina, we cut to the core of what is so right and so wrong with America. As they watched, a billion people across the planet could have witnessed... Equality without skin color or bear witness to the power of the poor among US or learn that what we do for the least of our neighbors we do for him. Much faster than Martin Luther King, Gandhi or even Jesus Christ could have imagined US capable... We The People could have begun to change the hearts and minds of mankind. Its simple, People who see themselves picking up the pieces after The Storm (no matter the nature of the storm) cant help but see themselves as Good and maybe even heroic. Storm or no storm, in my mind The Idea of Leadership requires that leaders create as many opportunities for The People to see themselves... Better after the storm than before it. But sadly in Equalitys place left by US on American Soil... was an American Soul stained by The Dark Essence of division. 9/11 and Katrina provided American leaders with the choice of Uniting Purposes or political separation. By shunning the opportunity to galvanize and strengthen America by way of Common Purpose, they chose political advantage and distinction, and in doing so fueled... The Fire of our Demise.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 10:54:35 +0000
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