Allow me to vent a little. I am tired of hearing the blame game. There is a lot of blame that can be shared by everyone in this disaster. You can start with the individual level and move all the way up to the national level. You could even go international if you like including countries where we rushed in to help. You can blame all the citizens of our dear country for not insisting that the barrier islands and the levees be taken care of in a city that is so important to our economy. Please quit blaming! Once the immediate needs are taken care of and the time is appropriate, then let's still not blame, but please let us have an honest assessment of what happened so we can learn from it and know better next time.
Speaking of immediate needs - Baton Rouge has really come through! While I know there are refugees all over the country and each place is handling it in a great way, I really think that Baton Rouge has shone. There was a little unrest as we saw our city blossom to double in size - especially right after some of the scenes and reports that came out of New Orleans of the looting, shootings, rapes, murder, etc. Unthinkable things that nobody would want in their city. But our city never stopped offering help. There is an untold number of refugees in our city. I've heard the shelter numbers, but that doesn't take into account the number of people in homes. The people in homes are not just friends and neighbors, but in some cases strangers. Baton Rouge is one of the staging areas for the recovery efforts. So in addition to housing the refugees we are also housing and providing for workers. All of this is putting our infrastructure to the test. Roads, gas stations, grocery stores, not to mention schools. All of that is a minor inconvenience though and we can handle it. This is a great city and I don't think that people are fully aware of how much Baton Rouge has done and will be doing to help those in need. There has been such an outpouring of love and support in our city. Pray for endurance for the good people here as this will be going on long after the national media has moved on to something else.
Speaking of immediate needs - Baton Rouge has really come through! While I know there are refugees all over the country and each place is handling it in a great way, I really think that Baton Rouge has shone. There was a little unrest as we saw our city blossom to double in size - especially right after some of the scenes and reports that came out of New Orleans of the looting, shootings, rapes, murder, etc. Unthinkable things that nobody would want in their city. But our city never stopped offering help. There is an untold number of refugees in our city. I've heard the shelter numbers, but that doesn't take into account the number of people in homes. The people in homes are not just friends and neighbors, but in some cases strangers. Baton Rouge is one of the staging areas for the recovery efforts. So in addition to housing the refugees we are also housing and providing for workers. All of this is putting our infrastructure to the test. Roads, gas stations, grocery stores, not to mention schools. All of that is a minor inconvenience though and we can handle it. This is a great city and I don't think that people are fully aware of how much Baton Rouge has done and will be doing to help those in need. There has been such an outpouring of love and support in our city. Pray for endurance for the good people here as this will be going on long after the national media has moved on to something else.
No comments:
Post a Comment