I glanced at that page even a few days ago and couldn't take it. It's just makes one feel too horribly helpless.
You know, I'll admit, I'm one of those people who tends to watch trainwreck type threads on FR, and to an extent that sort of news, too. But when you're dealing with lives, that's another thing entirely. And there are so *many* lives at stake here.
In a lot of ways, this has been tougher than 9/11. Not to diminish that in any way...but at least then, we had people who we could honestly be angry with. This situation is just too complex for that, though there's a lot of blame to go around. And the actual true cause - Katrina - well...you can be angry that a storm happened, but it isn't an entity you can deal with. It's gone. It's passed. We can't hunt it down and get back at it.
But it's truly hard to know that the people who were killed by the storm itself may have been luckier than many left behind. Who knows just how many little pockets of people are trapped on upper floors or in attics, slowly succombing to dehydration or worse? I've been praying for them...it's all I can do...but it doesn't feel like enough.
It's very easy to be angry with those who are doing the rescue work because there are people who aren't being reached; but the sad truth is that no matter how hard they work, no matter how organized they are, no matter how *good* they are...there are perhaps thousands who will slip through the cracks.
I just want to do something!
I guess I could donate blood...it's time and it's really all I've got to offer...
I think one thing that Catholic Charities could do is arrange places for these people to move to. There are a lot of Parishes that could take in families and get them on their feet again. Our Parish has a house on the Parish grounds that could be used by a family of three or four kids! I'm going to e-mail the head of the Social Justice Committee to suggest it.