devastation, disgrace, disbelief

There are so many sad stories about slow disaster response in the Gulf coast, it's easy to place blame and point fingers. It's tempting to be distracted by the shouting and the jumping up and down. But while I agree that it's important to pinpoint the cause of lapses in appropriate emergency response time to fix the problems and prevent them from occurring again, the critical issue is to help these people now. Do what needs to be done, and go back to account for it all later.

I've asked before that people give something to the process. Money, supplies, time, blood... whatever you are able to give. I'm asking again. Clean out your closets and find a drop-off center that will ship clothes to the hurricane victims. It doesn't have to cost you a cent to help. Stephanie Klein is donating the proceeds from her online ads for the whole month. Go to her site and click the ads. That stuff adds up. Just ask The Hunger Site.

It's all drops in a bucket, pennies in a cup. It may not seem like much going in, but when everyone does it, it adds up and it makes a difference. It does.

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Can you imagine having mere moments to get yourself and whatever is most valuable to you out of your house and then risking your life to trudge through a raging storm in search of safe haven? When it's over, you realize that you have nothing but what you were able to grab as you fled from home? Then to discover that the most basic human needs like water, food, and sanitation are not available? That poison and disease and schrapnel endanger your every step? That the fate of the people you love most is unknown? That you're jobless despite being employed before the wind and rain came? Any one of these things is enough to try a person's soul. Compounded together, it's nearly inconceivable.
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Please help. I promise to stop asking. Although I admit I may mention it again as progress occurs, I'll cease with the outright requests.

Sleep well.