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Sep 17, 2005, 2:14am

Please read and think about this, and apss it on at your workplaces and
gatherings:

What's really behind the chaos in New Orleans?


Back in the 70's, my wife, baby daughter, and I lived in Goodna, Queensland,
a suburb of Brisbane. We were young and inexperienced and like most couples
our age lived pretty much hand to mouth. It was a struggle to make ends
meet. Any savings we had went as a down payment on the home we were buying.
Once a week my wife went shopping and bought the food and supplies we would
need the following week.



Like the Southeastern United States, the area we lived in was subtropical
and prone to cyclones (same as hurricanes). One day a cyclone approached our
area. It wasn't a big one as cyclones go, so we weren't too concerned. We
figured 6-12 hours of high winds and all would be back to normal. Except
things didn't go exactly according to plans. The cyclone moved in over top
of us and hit up against another pressure front and stopped dead. And there
it sat for two days. Not too much wind but oh did it rain. An inch an hour
for 48 hours. That's right - we got nearly four feet of rain.



Now Brisbane is built on the Brisbane River, not an impressive river as
rivers go - only a few feet deep and a hundred feet wide in the western
suburbs where we lived. At least during normal times. Four feet of water
over several hundred square miles is one hell of a lot of water. Trust me on
that one - I've seen it. And all of that water all had to get to the sea via
the Brisbane River. During the night, our little Brisbane River rose and
rose. The police were magnificent. They woke people up and evacuated
thousands of homes during that long night. Only two people drowned in our
area - residents of a mobile home park whose trailer was swept away. The
police commandeered trucks and backed them up to the local grocery store and
loaded all the food and necessities, drove them to high ground and parked
them.



By mid morning the river was 60 feet deep and three miles wide. We lived on
a hill so we weren't submerged. When you walked over the crest of the hill
and looked down into the valley where there was once a highway, railroad
line, shopping centers, and thousands of homes you were stunned into
silence. All you could see was water everywhere. No electric poles, no roof
tops, nothing. Everything was under water.


We took stock of our situation - it wasn't good. The flood came on our
weekly shopping day so the house contained very little food. We had some
candles and a flashlight. Nothing else. There was no electricity or water.
Fortunately it was warm weather.


We were in stunned disbelief. So were our neighbors. However, we decided we
had better quickly organize ourselves. We knew we were going to be isolated
and without water or power for some time. We started collecting all the rain
water we could. Without it we were screwed. We dismantled and reassembled a
non-mortared barbecue under our carport. We started collecting all the
firewood we could find. We assessed the food situation. Some people had full
freezers. We separated what we could eat over the next several days and dug
pits and buried the rest. Everyone shared what they had without a single
word of what came from whom.



Needless to say we survived - and in good shape. The R.A.A.F flew some food
supplies in (especially fresh bread that the local prison was baking and
fresh, unpasteurized milk from local farmers.) by helicopter. In fact I look
back on those days with some fondness. Our carport became the hub of the
neighborhood. At night we would just sit around the fire and talk.



The thousands of people who were displaced didn't go to refugee camps. They
went into the homes of those not flooded - sometimes friends or relatives,
often strangers. Nobody forced you to take in another family, everyone just
did it.



Hundreds of millions of dollars was raised throughout Australia. The relief
agencies didn't screw around with the money either. As soon as the water
receded in a weeks time, they set up centers in every hamlet. Anyone who was
submerged was given an initial $4,000 in CASH to tide them through. More
came later. Was there some abuse? A few instances but not many and the there
was follow-up to deal with that.. Was there any looting? Virtually none.



What does this have to do with New Orleans? Plenty.



Why didn't the people in the Superdome make any effort to organize
themselves? Why didn't groups of men patrol the restrooms to prevent rapes?



We have gone a long way in the past 40 years to creating a dysfunctional
society where self reliance, pride in one's self and a sense of right and
wrong are no longer esteemed or even valued.



We have allowed our government and media to say to people that you are not
at fault for what you do. You are victims, little children who can't look
after yourselves.



We have told our minorities that everything that goes wrong is the result of
racism. That you cannot succeed in a racist society.



We have told the dysfunctional that we will look after you no matter how
egregiously you act.



We have excused crime saying that poverty creates crime, when we all
instinctively know that it is the crime that creates poverty.



We have told young women that it okay to have babies without fathers. There
is no stigma attached - in fact if you have a baby we will shower you with
money and benefits so you can move out of your parent's house and have even
more babies. Even if this guarantees your babies will be raised in poverty.



We have told young men that it is okay to father as many children as you
can. The government will assume the father's traditional role and look after
the mother and babies.



And most importantly, we have called morals old fashioned and judgmental.
What right does society have to say that something is right or wrong?



And what have we gotten for this? (not to mention the $1 trillion we have
spent on the poor) Citizens who, at the first sign of trouble, stand around
bewildered. You see it on the news. Faces screaming, "Help me!", "Tell me
what to do!"



God help us. We're reaping what we sowed.



<Author Unknown>

Sep 17, 2005, 2:42pm

Indeed. Another huge factor in this tragedy was the complacency of the ppl
who did not evacuate, thinking it could never be that bad. The authorities
had ordered evacuations for many hurricanes past, but many had choosen to
ride them out anyway, and all the warnings were for naught. It never got as
bad as the authorities said it would.

And too, the scope of the devastation overwhelmed our government. We were
woefully unprepared and ill equipped to deal with an area of devastation
roughly the size of the UK.

That does not excuse the looting and the raping that occurred in Katrina's
aftermath. I was particularly appalled at the snipers shooting at the police
and rescue workers. What is wrong with ppl nowadays???

However, I did get a chuckle out of one middle-aged man who was looting the
stores for whatever he could find and giving it to bands of ppl stranded. He
had spray painted AID all over his car (his car or not, I don't know) and
syphoned off gas wherever he could find it. LOL
I remember one scene of him giving a box of food to a group and saying, "Eat
it now or save it for later." and off he went with a car load of diapers to
bring to a shelter.

Sep 18, 2005, 1:33am

[View Quote] What I think is wrong is how people are being brought up nowadays (see next
post by me)


>
> However, I did get a chuckle out of one middle-aged man who was looting
> the stores for whatever he could find and giving it to bands of ppl
> stranded. He had spray painted AID all over his car (his car or not, I
> don't know) and syphoned off gas wherever he could find it. LOL
> I remember one scene of him giving a box of food to a group and saying,
> "Eat it now or save it for later." and off he went with a car load of
> diapers to bring to a shelter.
I never heard of that guy, but he has my respect! Looting a store for cash
and electronics is stupid and morally wrong, but what that gentleman has
done, distributing aid like that, I want to shake his hand!

Sep 18, 2005, 1:33am

When I have kids of my own one day, I want to raise them how I was raised.
Punishment if they dont listen, spankings, a quick slap on the hand, getting
grounded, soap to wash the bad words out of the mouth. The only problem is
nowadays, one is likely to loose their children and end up in jail for doing
anyo of that, and that I do not agree with. Youth need direction and
strictness, or we end up with a society full of youth and adults who know no
better than to do what they want and think.. know.. they can get away with
it.. murder.. rape... theft.. beatings.. all of that due to lack of diciplin
as youth. Not the only contributing faxctor to all of that, but a main one
nonetheless. And think about it, this is coming from someone who will be
turning 19 in a week.
-Bean

Sep 19, 2005, 3:15pm

YESSS!!!
My brother and I were raised to respect other's property and to show respect
and courtesy towards others.

I can still hear our dad (may God rest him)...
"Is that yours? No? Then put it down." hehehehe

If we broke a toy, it didn't get immediately replaced.
"Well, now. Look what happened. You don't have it anymore."
My two goddaughters have NO concept of losing something dear to them,
because it is always replaced. Sometimes twice and thrice. Grrrrr

I can still remember feeling absolutely horrible once because I did not
think of my dad.
I had a boat load of friends over one hot Summer day, and we all grabbed a
cold Pepsi from the fridge. The rule on that was - you take a cold one out,
you put a warm one back in.
Well, to an 8 yr old having a grand 'ol time, that rule just flew out the
window. Until Daddy came home. Uh ohhhhhhhhh.
Mom spoke up, "Your poor father works so hard all day long in the hot sun.
Do you think it's too much to ask that he gets a cold Pepsi when he comes
home?"
I felt HORRIBLE. My lower lip trembled when I apologized. man I'll never
forget that lesson from 40 yrs ago.

Happy Birthday, Bean!!! I'm sure you will make a fine father some day.


[View Quote]

Sep 24, 2005, 3:41pm

Smiles, I Agree with ya Bean, (( Hugs ))
ohhh, ~~ Happy Birthday ~~ btw
http://sparklesrm.com/QueenRaMelWeb/Bean.gif

[View Quote]

Oct 3, 2005, 1:10pm

aye the old brissy floods, im not old enough to remember them, i wasnt even
born but my parents owned a house on the river near newstead, which is a
couple of k's down the river from goodna, anyways, my parents were lucky
with their home, luckly they were not hit as hard as some others but none
the less the service was impecible with the Police still being able to keep
the peace within the city, now i live in the bloody boonies where there is
absoulutly no threat of any disaster lol if there was a flood it wouldent
even make it over the Cunninghams Gap lol

SEACREST OUT
[View Quote]

Oct 3, 2005, 4:30pm

A belated happy b-day to you Bean!

Yes in short we are raising antisocial, disrespectful, government dependent,
whimps that have no regard for others. This is very unfortunate.
Catastrophes like Katrina show us where our society is going. I feel bad
for my great grandchildren and they aren't even conceived yet. If we were
raising strong self sufficient and respectful children you would see a great
difference in the outcomes of such tragedies.

Just a heads up.... in the San Francisco earthquakes the government relief
took 72 hours. Nearly every US catastrophe with the exception of 9/11 takes
72 hours to setup and dispense relief. New Orleans wouldn't be any
different nor was it. Was the government supposed to know that Katrina
wasn't going to break up when it hits land like most hurricanes do and get a
head start on the process? Was the government supposed to know that the
mayor and congressmen in town were swindling the money away that was
supposed to be used on levy improvements?

The USA stands for United States of America. The states were united but are
supposed to retain their individual statehoods. The local and state
governments are the ones to blame here and people need to stop blaming the
big administration at the top for everything. Yes FEMA dropped the ball on
this one by about 24 hours out of the norm. But nearly all of the casualties
were deceased before the normal 72 hours was up.

Not a great first post and I apologize. But being Red Cross Volunteers my
wife and I have both been over there to assess the situation. She has gone
back for yet another deployment as well. I have heard so many episodes of
the wrath of Katrina from the victims mouths and I can tell first hand that
the blame lies with the local government there. But people have to pass the
buck to somebody I guess.

Big Wil


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