i responded to a someone on another site who was critical of people pleading for help instead of being grateful for being rescued and looting things they couldn't even use...she said she cringed at the idea of outlaws overpowering the powerless but still asked "what do i owe those who aren't even grateful for surviving?"...i posted the following:

personally, i don't think i owe anyone anything...i think i owe God for having spared me and my family, for giving me the resources to help others and the ability to do so...
my debt to God is enormous and i will pay it through others just like others paid it through me when i needed it...
we all think we know what we'd do in the same situation but we don't...we might well know that we wouldn't loot electronics or shoot at helicopters but that's about all we really know -- that we wouldn't do what a small fraction of the thousands of survivors have done...personally, i don't want to think about what i might find myself compelled to do in the same situation as the majority of those survivors...

i'm not looking to hear from the lost because they're lost...i'm not looking to hear from the struggling because they're struggling...who is anyone to expect anything from them...their gratefulness is between them and God, not them and anyone else on the planet...
non-survival type-looters, shooters, rapists, and murderers be damned (i'm pretty sure)...those who are now going into yet another day of minimal water and food, sharing bathroom facilities or outdoor improvised arrangements with a host of others and a host of bacteria, sharing streets or rooms with the dead and who aren't doing anything wrong by pleading, even in anger, for help to stay alive and healthy -- they are the meek...they need earth, not judgement...
of course you cringe because you're human...and what makes you cringe makes it that much harder to deal with the rest of it -- for all of us who can't get there and do the hands on stuff we know we could if we were there, and most especially for those in the middle of it...

it's hard not to get angry out of frustration, heartache, and sorrow for those we can't just pluck out of the muck and make better...it's so hard when it seems like all you can do is watch and hear...
everybody finds a way, somehow, to channel their anger and sense of helplessness into a way that can help...donations are great of course but the sometimes overwhelming feeling of powerlessness doesn't go away with the click of a "send" button...i have to believe prayer is powerful enough to make up for what i can't do...


in light of dotsie's question, i would add that we wouldn't be expecting so much of ourselves if we were confined to a wheelchair or housebound...in effect though, many of us are...
we can't get there, we can't do any of the heavy lifting -- bodies or boxes...
at a terribly challenging time as this we would tend to see prayer as suddenly minimal when really it is the energy that drives those who can get there and who can help out...it's not just the survivors who need our prayers, it's also those who are witnessing their fellow human beings in such dire circumstances...their strength and will is tapped everytime they help another person...they will get headaches, backaches, blurred vision, upset stomachs, constipation, and hunger pangs and fatigue they will ignore...
and who's to say our prayers won't bring us physically closer to helping someone at some point?
many pray everyday when nothing particular is going on and we don't ask ourselves "what else can i do?"...
when all we can do doesn't seem like enough, it might not be about being enough...it might be a signal that we need to change something in our own lives...
prepare now for the next disaster (take cpr training, volunteer to write for organizations that can't afford writers, etc) and that feeling of "not enough" might just wane...

I'm okay...we are fine...and thanks to my boomer friends who wished us well during this very trying time...My God, I am in shock...I lived in Gulfport only two years ago...and only 7 blocks from the beach...I used to jog/walk on highway 90...that was my town...the house I lived in has some damage but is still standing...as is my best friend's house next door...she was in Miami at the time...her house in Miami received damage from Katrina before coming to the Gulfcoast...my pine tree landed in her backyard taking her security fence with it...has some windows out but otherwise okay considering that Gulfport was devastated...also Waveland, Mississippi...I used to go there to shop for antiques...it's completely gone...off the map...cannot believe it. As for me and Larry we rode it out in our house...my first hurricane...and I cannot believe what I saw...I didn't know trees bend the way they did or that wind could sound like that...it really does sound like a train. We've been without power since the storm hit us and it's been hotter than hell down here...long lines for ice, water and MRE's...hundreds and hundreds of homeless people living in their cars, long, long lines for gas (what there is of it), and I still cannot believe this...My husband has lost work now because the railroad is wiped out in places from Mobile to New Orleans...that was his route...at the moment he's taking his vacation but we're not sure what will happen after that...the railroad expected him to be on duty 24/7 but when it comes to being there now they don't care...it's unreal. His railroad company took a flight all along the rails to see the damage and they're pretty much out of commission...even if they had rails running to new orleans, there's nothing there to go to. We have our lives, our home and our family...so we're not complaining...our hearts go out to those who lost everything...this is heart sickening. When my friends comes from Miami we're going to go with her to help cut down the trees and debries from the hurricane...I'll take some pictures and try to send them to those of you I have come to know on a more personal level. To those of you who may have loved ones who lost everything, my heart is broken for them...this is truly an American tradegy...
God bless those who care and worried about me...you've touched me beyond belief...I love you guys.

Dee

Dee, I'm so relieved and overjoyed to hear from you and that you're safe. For once, I'm too overcome for words...

Dee, I'm glad you are ok. If you are without power, how did you log on? Here is what I am wondering: was there a major correctional facility in the devastated area? I am wondering what happened to all the convicts in jails? Also, what I understand is that some people could not afford to leave as instructed. They did not have $20.00 to put gas in their car, if they had a car. What is really bothering me is the way families are DRAGGING the corpses of loved ones along the road with no where to go! I want to go help. LLL

Dee wrote and said she was fine, and she beat me to posting it, but I'm glad she was able to post so everyone could see/read/feel what she's and others have been through. Pray for our brothers and sisters. Welcome back Dee, and take care.

JJ

We are all thankful that you survived Dee. I'm so sorry about your home, but it sounds as if it is in pretty good shape considering what has happened.

Thank heaven you and your husband are okay.
smile

Unique & Smile--that is true, many people simply had no way to leave.
Dee, I'm also very glad you're okay.
It's so hard to see the destruction and deaths both from the actual storm and the aftermath. The reports coming out are heartbreaking.

Dream of the Circle of Women
by Dahti Blanchard
published May 2004 by Spilled Candy Books
visit: www.dahtiblanchard.com

Dee, I've been worried about you and am glad to hear you and husband are OK.

I've been watching the news. This is so tragic and I don't have much to add. We'll be sending money to Oxfam http://www.oxfamamerica.org/ as I don't always like the Red Cross.

Dee we were ALL worried about you so it's wonderful to have you back...SO good to know that you and your husband are alright. Hopefully his work situation will work out in some way. We were all anxious to hear how our Boomer sisters in the path of the storm fared! Stay safe....