AS I SEE IT...

Self Importance and Self Reliance

The majority of the people everyone is seeing through the major news medias around the country, and the world need to realize that all those people did just as they were told - they went to the Superdome, a shelter of last resort.

The first problem AS I SEE IT, is nobody expected as many law abiding citizens to show up and need to stay for as long as they obviously had to stay.

Crowd control is a real issue when supplies are low or non-existent. Mayor Ray Naquin did the right thing to offer emergency shelter.

The failure to have the National Guard on alert and at the ready the day before the hurricane Katrina made landfall is unforgivable.

The failure to have viable emergency communications in place at a major port city is criminal. How much has been said about communication failure in New York City during 9/11? How much money has been spent on mock terrorists attack exercises?

Mayor Naquin had no authority to order National Guard troops into the city of New Orleans, or to commandeer buses, trains, or cruise ships - all he could do was request help. Help didn't come soon enough from anywhere.

So if terrorists had blown up a levee in New Orleans what would be the governments’ officials’ excuses as to why there was no real, doable emergency evacuation plan in place?

I am sick and tired of hearing about the obviously non-existent chain of Command. Who is in charge? All the money in the world is not going to undo the damage that happened in New Orleans. Money may rebuild the houses. Money - All the money paid in salaries and benefits to the men and women responsible for protecting the city has just been proven to be a waste. Seems to me that somehow protecting the city did not include protecting the citizens - and therein lies the problem. Our New Orleans, Louisiana residents appear to be considered nothing more than collateral damage - expendable.

At the center of the devastation in New Orleans it was impossible to distinguish between a doctor, a nurse, a cook, or a garbage truck driver. And to my way of thinking there should be no distinction - They’re all people!

As I have said before, about other less important issues now than the current tragic goings on in New Orleans, and the surrounding Gulf Coast - the elderly, the sick, the young, and the poor are the most at risk.

The elderly can't contribute as they once did...
The sick can't contribute as they once may have...
The young are not yet able to contribute...
And the poor, the financially working poor, their contributions to the city, and society as a whole are far underestimated...

When I say that self importance and self reliance are not the same thing - the pictures and the stories emerging from the destruction all along the Gulf Coast should make it clear. Officials, like Governor Blanco and President Bush were worried about the chain of command. Mayor Naquin had to repeatedly beg for help that was inexcusably slow in coming, while officials were holding meetings trying to decide what to do - the city of New Orleans flooded because of broken levees.

If the Corps of Army Engineers ever had a plan for fixing broken levees they must have forgotten to write it down, and refer to it. Inexcusable!!!

Locally self reliance is what is pulling our area through our challenges and problems. The local radio stations are providing much needed communications to residents from local parish government officials concerning electric service, garbage collections, food and water distribution points. The National Guard are just now arriving at smaller down the bayou towns - six days after Katrina, and six days after local shelters have taken in thousands of New Orleans and surrounding area residents.

More later...