Katrina the teacher

Katrina is teaching many lessons. I have seen spotty national coverage so my perspective is no doubt less informed than those of you outside the areas of destruction. Sociologists will be studying the human or subhuman behavior for years. It is easy to get into race and then politics to explain the violence and civil unrest, but that is too simplistic and only rehashes the themes and drumbeats of those who like to fight on those levels.

I will point out a few of the problems I think contributed to the rioting and unrest. I am not going to go out of my way to be politically correct. Please try to understand the points I am making instead of reacting to a label I may use.

1. Personal responsibility and principles: I was raised to take responsibility for my own behavior. "The dog ate my homework" was not an excuse. I could not get out of trouble because I brought home a "D" by telling my parents Jimmy two doors down got an "F" in the same class. If anyone makes excuses for the people in New Orleans who took advantage of the worst disaster in US history to commit crimes, they are making a huge mistake. There is no excuse. I have absolutely NO DOUBT that I would not have stolen anything or committed crimes, because I live by principles. Principles that say you should help others. You should not steal. You should not take advantage of other's misfortunes. When excuses are made for an individual's behavior, the good people become angry. Their anger is then interpreted as racism unless they are angry at the behavior of a like race.

2. Family and Education: Check out the demographics for the New Orleans census. You will see that Orleans Parish has the worst national test scores in Louisiana which itself ranks near the bottom in education. On the other hand, the Parish in which I live has the highest test scores in the state. Why is that? A racist might say because Orleans Parish is predominantly black and St. Tammany Parish is predominantly white. Others might say it is a rich poor thing. Again, these answers are too simple. I think the two parishes have populations who have been raised in very different ways.

My learning includes my what my mother, father, and extended family taught me and reinforced in their own behavior. I was overseen and guided. I was expected to live up to standards. School was important and my parents attended all of the school functions. They did not assume the teacher was wrong if I blamed her, they usually suspected my irresponsibility and they were usually right.

In contrast, Orleans Parish has an unbelievable number of children born into and living in single parent homes. Those children are often raised by the grandmother. The father has a high likelihood of dying by gunshot. He is also more likely to be on drugs or be in prison. The mothers tend to have several children by different men. The children experience neglect and often abuse. They are greatly affected by this kind of childhood. They observe their adult role models being irresponsible, not working, doing drugs, and committing crimes. They are not made to believe school is important and their parents rarely attend school functions.

Before Katrina, the New Orleans School Board was in shambles amid misuse of funds and other scandalous charges. Even the administrators of the schools were poor examples. Not long ago the number one student in one of the New Orleans High Schools was unable to do well enough on her ACT's to enter the college she wanted to attend.

Now many of these people I explained are also black. That is not to say it is because they are black. They do poorly because of the way they are brought up and because of the examples they have to observe and a host of other reasons.

The black community is done a disservice when Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton get into the fray, because these "leaders" perpetuate the doctrine of "It's not your fault, it is because of racism." Racism, by their definition is only white to black. Black people cannot be racist. This notion is of course incorrect. People are racist. We notice what race someone is and we have ideas about these folks ingrained from childhood. Those with tolerance, education, and good sense do not automatically judge an individual because they are one race or another. To notice that a group of criminals is black, white, or Mexican is not racist, it is basic observation skills. To say blacks commit crimes because that is what blacks do is a racist statement.

3. The Media: The conflict oriented media fans the flames of racism. They know the whites will be mad as hell anytime Jesse or Al get on O'rielly or CNN. It is good for their ratings. The segments have nice titles, but they are too short and include the extreme points of view. An argument passes for debate. Solutions are not sought, instead fingers are pointed and nothing gets solved.

4. Politics: Like the media, politics has become more about conflict than about statesmanship. I know there are good politicians, but there are a lot of bad ones who talk about saving money then add the pork to a totally unrelated bill. Character assassination prevails. A politician would not do what is right for a school system unless it also benefits their own political agenda, so often good ideas never see the light of day. The truth is, politics cannot solve the problems of New Orleans. Only an individual can control his or her behavior. Just think about gun laws and hate crimes. The idea is that if you pass a law, it will change behavior. It is already against the law to use a gun to shoot someone, it is called murder. If the murderer hated the person too is it a worse crime? Would that have prevented the murder? Will they go to jail longer?

In the case of Katrina, it was the worst hurricane ever to hit the US. People were told about it on Saturday. The lead up to the storm was evacuation. All of the politicians were on television saying how bad it was going to be and everyone should leave. Mayor Nagin did not make the evacuation order mandatory until Sunday. He wanted to on Saturday, but his attorney was afraid that if he made the order mandatory and some in the city lacking the means to get out could sue the city. This is another problem about the blame / personal responsibility issue. It is not Mayor Nagin's fault a hurricane is coming and it is not his fault if you don't have transportation.

Even with the mandatory evacuation order, people continued to drink on Bourbon Street thumbing their nose at the approaching storm. Those who had the means to leave the city but did not have no right to complain about conditions in the city after the hurricane. They shouldn't have been there.

Normally in a a hurricane, there are three early parts. Evacuation, weathering the storm, and clean up. Katrina gave us a few more parts. The city continued to flood and officials did not know why. It took a few days to figure it out and address it. This hampered rescue efforts. The storm was on a much larger scale than any storm before and overwhelmed relief systems, and distribution of food and fuel. The other new part was the unrest and crime. Katrina did not cause this, the people doing the crimes did. Rescuers were having to deal with people who were not cooperating and this was unexpected. By contrast, the people of New York displayed much better values and behavior by the way they worked together in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on that day.

This is a big mess. It is easy to blame the government. Take your pick, the President, FEMA, or the Red Cross. Blame away, but they are not responsible for an individual who chooses to steal a television over the option of helping an elderly lady get medical help.

Until the next time
John Strain

The Limits of Compassion

I did something tonight I rarely do. I told someone NO. Not just no, but hell no. Barbara, John, and Bear finally came home today. I worked at the hospital some in the morning and resolved the immediate medication problems for the patients I mentioned a post or so back.

Then I came home and began to give my own house some attention. Cleaning out the refrigerator is a job I should have done a few days ago. I witnessed sights and smells that would drive a dog off a gut wagon. Anyway, the next order of business was to set up my generator. That task went smoothly and by night fall, all of the wires were run and it was ready to crank up.

We ate out at a Mexican restaurant with Marty and Cindy. It was a pleasant evening and by 11:00 pm I was home. The house was hot and poor Bear was glad to see us. I cranked up the generator and it started on the first pull. Soon the refrigerator was purring and the AC was blowing cool air into our room.

Then the phone rang. It was the guy next door complaining of noise and noxious fumes blowing in his bedroom window. You would have to know the history here to know my reaction. Barbara had answered the phone, when she told me who it was and what he wanted, I blew my top. Still, I walked outside and angled the exhaust further away from his window.

5 minutes later the phone rings again. It’s him of course and he is whining about the noise and fumes. “We are all stressed and have been working very hard.” First of all, each time I have come home to get things to go back to the hospital, he has been swimming in his pool. Furthermore, this guy is independently wealthy and does not work at all. I suppose pulling sticks around his yard puts him in the high stress category.

I explained to my neighbor there was nothing I could or would do. I could not move it in the dark and restring all of the wires. The noise is a constant noise and the fumes will not hurt him.

The last two nights I have slept with a generator right outside the room. It is loud, but I slept fine.

He kept whining until I told him for the last time I was not going to shut it off and slammed the phone down. If you were to walk outside in these parts, you would think people were mowing their lawns at night with B29’s. They are loud, but many people have them.

I detest whiners especially when they have nothing to legitimately whine about.

So there, I am a social worker and a Christian and I like to help people. I think I just helped my neighbor realize he cannot control the world. Sometimes things are loud and do not smell good and sometimes there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.

Until the next time
John Strain

Katrina Photos

Here are a few Katrina damage photos in Covington, Louisiana.

A tree top sits upside down on Highway 21 hurled by Katrina

Zenia Drive in Flowers Estates South of Covington

Another view of Zenia Drive

A friend's house on Zenia Drive.

Until the next time
John Strain

A Need

People have been asking, “What can I do?” I have an answer to this question. Here at the hospital, we have been having former patients and others show up out or nearly out of medication. If they get off their meds, it is not good and they often require hospitalization to stabilize them again.

In the case of Patrick, he was just here. He went to the Mental Health Clinic in Mandeville and there were trees on it. His sister drove him to Rosenblum Mental Health Clinic in Hammond, but it was closed and no one knew when it would reopen.

His sister purchased a three day supply of his meds for $100. He has no where to turn, but here. He has his prescription, but cannot afford to buy them full price. Normally, he gets free meds at the state clinic.

He is not the first to come by and I anticipate there will be others. These folks need medications like: Seroquel, Risperdol, Zyprexa, Depakote, and others.

Are there any drug reps out there who can contact drug reps in this area? Are there any local drug reps reading this who can help. Patrick runs out of his Zyprexa 15mg on Sunday. We will find him medicine somehow.

Until the next time
John Strain

The Work Goes On