Katrina...another thought

Nature is not very choosy about how she goes about with her business. Unfortunately, the leaders (netas?) of the world are just as blind as Nature in being undiscriminating – when it comes to ignoring the common man’s plight.

It is human nature to compare, and inevitably we end up comparing things that are nowhere comparable. Katrina is a tragedy…and very huge one at that and should not be compared to the Mumbai deluge.

In spite of all the accolades being showered on the ‘spirit’ of the Mumbaikar and how he (and she) took care of each other when disaster struck, I personally feel, that we too would have reacted in the much same way (violence, looting, killing, etc.) if our backs were pushed to the walls (that, you see, is also a very ‘human’ nature).

It’s not just the willpower or the desire to help that is enough…but the ability and the availability of resources that matter too. Would these people, who rushed out in to the streets, have bothered if their homes (not to mention the children, elders, sick) were drowning? Would we not have tried to take care of our kith and kin first? Would some of us not have used force to get what we ‘needed’? Would we have been so generous when we had nothing to return to after giving away what we had?

Without justifying the acts, let me add here that the ‘culprits’ did what they did to feed and take care of themselves and their family…what about the contractors and business men who send substandard aid material or even divert the aid from the needy and make millions out of another man’s tragedy?

Yes, there would definitely be people who put others before themselves…they are the exceptions that prove the rule. Similarly, I am sure even in New Orleans not all were the looters and killers – if that was so, then who were the victims!

What’s disturbing is that countries spend trillions on creating an illusion of invulnerability. In the bargain they forget (deliberately?) that a fraction of that, if spent on the upliftment of the poorer section of the society, would at least prevent the prolonged hardships one ends up facing after Nature strikes. What’s even funny (not the ha-ha kind, but the sheeessh kind) is that all that expenditure never stopped determined rebel/terrorist/neighbor from attacking and killing so many, so often.

I hope (I don’t pray, since I am an agnostic), that the sufferings (of the Katrina Victims and others around the world) would end and that life returns to normalcy at the earliest.

Wanakkam