wish we could help

LOADS of people here want to 'rescue' someone from the hurricane damage. the agencies moving people around are not gonna be paying airfares to Hawaii. most hawaiians don't have 'money' but they have aloha in abundance. i have posted my particulars to Oprah (of all things) just in case that organization can relocate someone here. i hate this feeling of helplessness. i pray every day, but this is one of those situations when simple prayer is not enough. i am thinking of starting a hawaiian hurricane help line. we need organization of the various offers. unfortunately, organization is not one of this states best assets. how do i just shrug this of? i don't usually feel this way about disasters that hit the various parts of the world. nothing i can do, so why waste emotion on them. i don't know why this has affected me so deeply. despite my texan birth, i hold no real loyalty to the US in general, or the southern states in particular. i know there is nothing any one can say. i just need to put my sadness 'on paper'. thanks for listening.

 

as a caring and compassionate person i know you do what you can. it is all relative. those who have more can give more. in my mind a person on a (low) fixed income who gives $10 is giving more than a billionaire who gives a million.

in the long run the best thing any of us can do is learn from this whole mess. prepare ourselves and our families for disater. teach our children the concepts of planning and preparedness. learn that if we depend on the government to take care of us that we will be disappointed every time. the best defense against disaters like this is in self reliance and responsibility.

these types of disasters hit the poor the hardest. the biggest reason people are poor is because they are uneducated. this disaster can be a very good lesson and motivator for our children that an education has real life value. and the lack of one can have real harsh consequenses.

sorry for getting off on a tangent. this whole mess has brought tears to my eyes as well. i dont agonize over it because i am doing what i can.

 

i think some of my anguish actually comes from being so fortunate. as i drive over the indescribable beauty of this island, and then return home to the scenes of devastation flashing across my screen. you're right about education, but it predisposes opportunity that most poor don't have. my parents were rich enough to send me to a private school. i therefor had the education and knowledge to ensure the best placements for my own. i arrived here a lost and grieving soul, and the warmth of the people who adopted me into their hearts, and the serenity of my surroundings, soothed and nourished me. i just wish i could pass even a small amount of that on.

 

I've found it impossible to watch on TV. A few photos on the front of our local paper was too shocking. I couldn't believe this was 21st America suffering like a third world country.

I've been watching the thread on Ophelia, and again find it impossible to imagine or respond to. I can only say my heart leaps for all the people there. Each individual is special in a unique way and any mental or physical harm that comes to anyone is a loss or an injury to us all.

 

I myself am saddened deeply by the suffering. At the risk of sounding crass, though...location has a HUGE part in these disasters. 6 feet below sea level behind levees designed for a category 3 hurricane would not make me feel safe. I know that has nothing to do with the other areas devastated by Katrina but man oh man every year somewhere down south there is a HUGE damaging hurricane. Like Sam Kinnison said about starving peple in Africa...move to where the food is....well...move to where the hurricanes aren`t. I don`t mean to sound cold but sheesh....every year...sometimes twice...