The Great Katrina Celebrity Tour
God forgive us our mistakes.
There must be so many places to point fingers of blame with any disaster, if that's what one is led to do. Katrina is no different. Every news report, every politician and every media source has a point of view on what could have been done. I don't pretend to know. I know that I feel awful for what happened. I know that I want to help in every way that is realistically possible for me to. There are many ways to help, many ways to make a difference. Every other commercial on t.v. or the radio will tell you how in case you need ideas.
I'm grateful for each ounce of energy that is put forth to help. It's hard to step out of our comfort zone, even if it is to help someone who so desperately needs it. But it's usually the same people who do, over and over again...every time they're needed. Thank God for them.
What I don't understand is when our celebrities gathered so much power. I understand that they only have what power we've given them, but have we honestly given them so much that we follow them, believe them and trust them rather than those that we've supported and voted into office? Since when did we turn to Michael Moore to show us the 'real' truth? When did we begin to listen more to Oprah than to our President? When did we send a message to Sean Penn (and his camera crew) that he should try doing what our National Guard is trained to do? I'm sure our Nat'l Guard, our Red Cross, even our President would love to be able to have a fraction of the income, the media exposure and the national support that we, for some odd reason, seem to be giving to celebrities.
Yesterday I happened to catch the Dr. Phil show. He had himself and an entire camera crew being taxi'd around New Orleans by those in charge of helping and securing (be it Nat'l Guard, law enforcement, whatever). Do these people not have enough to do? I remember hearing last week how they'd decided to ban the media and I thought at the time...'oh oh...gonna be a problem'. They lifted the media ban, but now I see why they wanted it. Not only did Dr. Phil show us the same thing that we've been seeing over and over...but (and I kid you not) he put on a kevlar vest and tried to get people out of their homes that have refused to go by saying "This is Dr. Phil, you really need to leave". Duh??? You think?? They're not going to listen to law enforcement, to military, but oh...hey...it's Dr. Phil! Plus, it's like a war zone in a lot of those areas and Dr. Phil and his crew were only adding to the responsibilities that these over worked brave men and women already have. How about showing us where we CAN help, not why we need to. We'd have to have just came out of a coma not to know our help is needed!
It's totally confusing to me. Sure, we need their help. We need their volunteering where they're told to volunteer like the rest of us by the people IN CHARGE. We need their money, we need the funds they're able to raise by their media exposure (which we've given them). But, people...they're not missionaries, professionally trained rescuers, or politicians making decisions where our tax dollars go...they are people we pay money to so that they will entertain us. Get a grip on reality. Put your trust in the people you elected, in the charities and organizations that have learned how to handle crisis from being there over and over again, all over the world when ever there was a tragedy. Pointing fingers isn't helping to get the job done, regardless of what the job is. It's only making noise in a situation where we need to be listening... Instead of telling everyone who will listen what wrong was done, ask what right you can do. There's plenty for all of us to do.
It sort of reminds me of when something needs to be done at home. If a glass is left on a counter and a cat jumps up and knocks it off, it doesn't matter who left it there or why it was left there. What matters is that there is glass on the floor with 4 people and 6 animals walking around on that floor. It needs to be cleaned up as soon as possible.
If you want to talk about blame, we can do that, later. But, please, let's get the mess cleaned up before any more damage is done. There is a time for anger, for questions. But is it now? Isn't there more important things needing to be done right now?
There must be so many places to point fingers of blame with any disaster, if that's what one is led to do. Katrina is no different. Every news report, every politician and every media source has a point of view on what could have been done. I don't pretend to know. I know that I feel awful for what happened. I know that I want to help in every way that is realistically possible for me to. There are many ways to help, many ways to make a difference. Every other commercial on t.v. or the radio will tell you how in case you need ideas.
I'm grateful for each ounce of energy that is put forth to help. It's hard to step out of our comfort zone, even if it is to help someone who so desperately needs it. But it's usually the same people who do, over and over again...every time they're needed. Thank God for them.
What I don't understand is when our celebrities gathered so much power. I understand that they only have what power we've given them, but have we honestly given them so much that we follow them, believe them and trust them rather than those that we've supported and voted into office? Since when did we turn to Michael Moore to show us the 'real' truth? When did we begin to listen more to Oprah than to our President? When did we send a message to Sean Penn (and his camera crew) that he should try doing what our National Guard is trained to do? I'm sure our Nat'l Guard, our Red Cross, even our President would love to be able to have a fraction of the income, the media exposure and the national support that we, for some odd reason, seem to be giving to celebrities.
Yesterday I happened to catch the Dr. Phil show. He had himself and an entire camera crew being taxi'd around New Orleans by those in charge of helping and securing (be it Nat'l Guard, law enforcement, whatever). Do these people not have enough to do? I remember hearing last week how they'd decided to ban the media and I thought at the time...'oh oh...gonna be a problem'. They lifted the media ban, but now I see why they wanted it. Not only did Dr. Phil show us the same thing that we've been seeing over and over...but (and I kid you not) he put on a kevlar vest and tried to get people out of their homes that have refused to go by saying "This is Dr. Phil, you really need to leave". Duh??? You think?? They're not going to listen to law enforcement, to military, but oh...hey...it's Dr. Phil! Plus, it's like a war zone in a lot of those areas and Dr. Phil and his crew were only adding to the responsibilities that these over worked brave men and women already have. How about showing us where we CAN help, not why we need to. We'd have to have just came out of a coma not to know our help is needed!
It's totally confusing to me. Sure, we need their help. We need their volunteering where they're told to volunteer like the rest of us by the people IN CHARGE. We need their money, we need the funds they're able to raise by their media exposure (which we've given them). But, people...they're not missionaries, professionally trained rescuers, or politicians making decisions where our tax dollars go...they are people we pay money to so that they will entertain us. Get a grip on reality. Put your trust in the people you elected, in the charities and organizations that have learned how to handle crisis from being there over and over again, all over the world when ever there was a tragedy. Pointing fingers isn't helping to get the job done, regardless of what the job is. It's only making noise in a situation where we need to be listening... Instead of telling everyone who will listen what wrong was done, ask what right you can do. There's plenty for all of us to do.
It sort of reminds me of when something needs to be done at home. If a glass is left on a counter and a cat jumps up and knocks it off, it doesn't matter who left it there or why it was left there. What matters is that there is glass on the floor with 4 people and 6 animals walking around on that floor. It needs to be cleaned up as soon as possible.
If you want to talk about blame, we can do that, later. But, please, let's get the mess cleaned up before any more damage is done. There is a time for anger, for questions. But is it now? Isn't there more important things needing to be done right now?
posted by kathi | 8:20 AM
3 Comments:
I found uyour blog from a comment you made on Eddie's.
Well, that just confirms my dislike of Dr Phil. Did you read ben Stein's last column?
How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World?
Excellent analogy with the glass on the counter. I only wish more in Washington thought as you do. Great site!
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Post a Comment
<< Home