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RE: [RC] News from Louisiana - heidiGuys, the third world is one hell of a nicer place than the US in distress is. People here are used to going without and having problems and they help each other. And since things never work properly anyway, everyone is set up to live with hand pumps and no power. Where everyone's idea of 'finding necessities' is the local supermarket, folks have no bloody idea how to manage in hard times. Most of my neighbours have illegal guns and none of them would dream of using them on other people. They are just there for shooting into the air at weddings. And people here share their water and food. It isn't a "third world" atmosphere, it's the atmosphere of the "have's" suddenly not having. Thanks for sharing that, Maryanne. My dad and I were talking along similar lines as we watched the news this evening. Although I can't begin to know the sort of suffering these folks are undergoing, what struck both of us about some of them was their anger at the "authorities" and their assertation that "somebody" should "do something." Yet I suspect the vast majority of these people had TV sets and knew the storm was coming--they could have stockpiled water, at the very least, even if they didn't have money. Many of the "poor" are wearing clothes that cost a heckuva lot more than my whole wardrobe. My heart goes out to the young, old, disabled, etc.--but if this was a third-world country, all of those able-bodied ones would have gotten on their feet as soon as the winds and rains abated and would have started walking. What was really tragic IMO were the ones who DID stockpile, and who are stuck up on their rooftops now, running out of things, because they don't dare go down on the street where others are looting and being violent. I think you're right--if I ever have to undergo a natural disaster, it would be a lot more survivable in some part of the world where people already understand deprivation and have cultural ethics for dealing with it. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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