As a southerner myself, I am saddened by the devastation and suffering of my neighbors in Louisiana and Alabama. What a shame that the United States was so ill prepared for the aftermath. Growing up on the east coast, one develops an innate awareness that we are always one summer away from a major hurricane. We become desensitized to the dangers and are prepared to ride most of the storms out. Hugo's and Andrew's have taught us valuable lessons, and we pick our fights now, evaluating the danger and decide whether to go or to stay. The ones that can afford it do leave and the ones that cannot stay behind. What a shame that the world's leading power, the inventor of the space shuttle has failed its own citizens during this natural disaster. I can only imagine what would happen if it was man made. I read an article a couple of weeks ago that really disturbed me. It seems that Americans are spending more than they make. Not just on a federal and state level, but on a personal financial level. For every 100 USD that is earned by an American, he/she is only saving 1 dollar out of that 100 dollars earned. I found this information incredible. If anyone else knows different, or if I am mislead, please e-mail me and let me know. If this is true, than it seems that we as Americans are just one paycheck away from financial disaster. Personally, I find this frightening. The United States, even though it is considered one of the richest most powerful nation of the world, has a very large under class of poor folks. The lines between the "haves and the have nots" seems to be a bit blurred after this article, and the systems in place to help these folks in times of need such as now, seem a bit suspect. I hope that we as Americans, at an appropriate time, start to self-evaluate from the top down to find out what went wrong during our nations time of need, and if we have our values and priorities in the right place. Perhaps we need to start cleaning up our own back yard before directing others to make changes.
Until next time,
A Woman of Egypt