送交者: xj 于 2005-9-02, 17:10:56:
divided again
Hurricane is a frequent visitor to New Orleans, LA, and flood is not a new thing either. In fact, New Orleans has been grossly flooded at least three times, and levee leakage is a constant danger (see Scientific American, Aug 31, 2001). Numerous end-of-the-world predictions are useless if there is no money. And it also happens that in the US, everything is very costly. Repairing curb in my neighborhood ended up costing more than one million dollars a mile. For a major fixing of the levee maze in New Orleans, tens of billions are barely enough to start.
Unfortunately, New Orleans is a poor city, a third world place in the US. Pictures flashing in the TV screen show that the downtown New Orleans is full of crappy old houses (presumably historically valuable). People trapped in the dome and convention center are, needless to say, universally the poor and blacks. The rich people had already left the city two days before hurricane Katrina came.
Those who stayed in the city seemed stupid in the eyes of some people, for example Mr, Michael Brown of Federal Emergency Management Agency who said that the victims should bear the responsibility for not leaving the city. Why didn’t they leave? Wasn’t the evacuation mandatory?
The answer is as obvious as your shadow under the sun. You just need to turn around and look at it. Those who stayed have no money, no transportation, and no way to go. All they can do is kneeling down and praying for God, hoping God will be mercy enough to spare their lives.
Sadly, God has His own purpose at a grand scale although no one knows what purpose God has in His mighty mind. Those black people have to endure God’s punishment for unknown reasons, thus confused, angry and frustrated.
The real business is that money talks, in both big and small ways. If the government had money, the levees might have been fixed years ago; if those black people had money, they might now stay in a comfortable hotel hundreds of miles away instead of in the filthy dome. When it comes to life or death issue, money matters a lot.
Many feel sorry for the lost of historical architectures, music heritage, and the art environment. But to me, they are not essential any more. People cannot live on arts. They need food and water. Period.