the shameful splinters of a great nation

So much good comes out of the people of this country, but mostly when others are in crisis. We can be a pretty selfish, petty, self-centered, opportunistic, xenophobic and materialistic people, but when others take a beat-down of epic proportions, we rally behind them and show our best, brightest colors. Conversely, we act pretty badly at those same times of sorrow, and people can be insensitive, hateful, inappropriate and wrong-headed in such ways that it detracts from the focus of the moment.

In the aftermath of Katrina, with all the suffering in Louisiana and Mississippi, there have been a lot of very public moments that would not make a level-headed populace proud: Jesse Jackson bringing race into what should be a color-free rescue and clean-up project; Barbara Bush making insensitive and elitist comments about evacuees; Wolf Blitzer over-earnestly bringing race into a news report; Kanye West making a potentially accurate point at an inappropriate moment; certain Christian groups saying the devastation was God's wrath against abortion clinics; even the people at risk, shooting at rescuers, cursing those who brought aid and looting goods that would be no help to them at all.

At this juncture, the ratio of bad to good behavior is 1:5. 20/80. Not so bad, but not really great either.

I don't really have a clever close to this.




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