Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published Sept. 7, 2005

Even with disasters, God watches over America

For a full week we saw the very worst of nature and both the worst and best of humankind. After nature conspired to pound the southern coast with violent winds, not to be outdone, the great waters of the ocean, rivers and lakes joined in the havoc.

As devastating as nature's frolic was to a large part of the Gulf Coast, it critically wounded the city of fun and easy living. Katrina spread devastation across the 90,000 square miles of New Orleans. As she moved north, the first reports were that the situation was not as bad as had been feared, but nature was not done. The waters kept rolling and battering until the levees weakened and everything changed as the flooding spread over the vast area.

Katrina was barely out of sight when human vultures began their attack. It was so easy for critics sitting in comfort miles away to begin questioning - why wasn't there a plan, why was the response from the government so slow? Tongues were sharp as knives as they hurled criticism at the mayor, the governor and of course, the president. The jabs came from all directions. Politicians, leaders of groups hostile to the administration and entertainers, all had words of wisdom to their followers.

They allowed no cooling down period to take a thoughtful look at the many days Katrina spent trying to decide if she was a category 1, 3, or 5 hurricane. No, these voices knew this was the time to attack with anger immediately. So many of their words were carefully composed to play on the American belief in instant gratification. They planted doubts and anger, and if the words fueled hopelessness, that was OK too.

Of the half million population of the city, 80 percent had heeded the warnings and evacuated. African Americans made up 67.3 percent of the population and there were many of them making up the 20 percent left when the hurricane hit. Many who stayed did not have the resources to leave and some preferred taking their chances.

As the voices became more strident, racism was injected into the word game. It mattered not that thousands of people of color were rescued from rooftops by heroes of many colors or that shelters housed many more thousands of people of color.

Using racism as the main theme, a more inflammatory misuse of the simple word refugee became a sub theme. Webster defines refugee as one who flees to find refuge. Voices screamed, "I'm not a refugee. I'm an American." The word has nothing to do with nationality or race. Those thousands that found refuge, a shelter from hardship or danger, did not always escape those very elements they feared. That will remain a stain we must cope with.

Now, a week after the epic event, things are calmer and controlled. Refugees are now evacuees and as displaced persons they are being relocated. Ahead lies the grim and enormous task of clean-up and rebuilding. The scope of the job is staggering.

Much time was lost after Katrina hit by the breakdown in communications. What lies ahead in the halls of power will be too much communication as investigations, hearings and legislation proceed.

So much for the worst because it has been replaced with the best of humankind. All the relief organizations and scores of volunteers appearing from around the nation to help. Checkbooks are open. Hospital staff working under horrible conditions. Our armed forces bringing order to chaos. Even the much maligned media did their jobs honorably from before Katrina's onslaught straight through the long heart breaking days that followed.

Thank you, God, for America!

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday. She may be reached at ebrush@frontiernet.net