"I have declared August 31, 2005, a Day of Prayer in the State of Louisiana.EA then injects some insulin of sanity in the face of this diabetic coma of inanity:
[...]
"I know, by praying together on Wednesday, that we can pull together and draw strength we need; strength, that only God can give us."
Well, I have this to say:Shut the fuck up. Where is your god, Governor? Where is your benevolent, omnipotent being? Is he busy being thanked by the starving survivors who sit on their rooftops as the odor of their rotting neighbors wafts over them? Is he busy being thanked by the critical-care patients who avoided the bullets of the snipers that tried to kill them as they were being evacuated today? Is he busy being thanked by the evacuees who have returned to southern Mississippi to pick through the piles of matchsticks and memories that cover the ground their homes used to occupy? He must be busy, because he’s nowhere to be found. It’s not god providing the cots and MREs for 45,000 refugees, it’s the city of Houston. It’s not god picking people off rooftops, it’s the Coast Guard. It’s not god stopping the floodwaters from Lake Pontchartrain, it’s the Army Corps of Engineers
Wisdom and should-be common sense then continue to surge forth. I wholeheartedly suggest - plead that - people read what he has to say.
Now for my thoughts.
Ouch.
Everybody pray for me. I fear that I am slipping out of consciousness from repetitively bludgeoning the desk with my head after reading this post.
This line of thought, combined with the continued reports of malevolent, inhumane actions from people in the face of mounting hopelessness, is not conducive to repelling a perpetual mental siege by an overwhelming sense of misanthropy. My already slippery grip on the idea (pipe dream?) of the mere humanity of humans is weakening.
When cornered, or merely given an opportunity, we lunge for each other’s throats, blinded by self preservation and/or greed. Can’t we see one another in the mirror and in that recognition gain some semblance of compassion?
But, then again, why bother?
If we refuse to believe in our own strength, and shell out credit to invisible forces outside of and separate from us when given concrete examples of both the existence of our own, and complete absence of any supernatural benevolence, then where is a need for responsibility?
Why bother helping another human if it’s ultimately not of your own accord, will, and ability? In the face of their own cowardice, ineptitude, and lethargy, people will readily give credit to a god instead of a fellow human who possessed enough intestinal fortitude to overcome those same dilemmas. The viable choice is to continue in self-denial and delusion, choosing an omnipotent god, rather than admit one’s own shortcomings.
As for those who actually do care enough to help, yet still heap recognition in god’s lap? I suppose they do so on two accounts:
- fear of damnation/hope for eternal reward
- they’d prefer to believe their own strength and conviction was bestowed upon them from the unknown rather than acknowledge the complacent negligence of fellow humans
The prevailing thought seems to be that all the ills of humanity string from within, and any graces of humanity are granted to us. Furthermore, tragedies that fall upon us spring forth from those very self conceived ills, and any fortune is a merely a blessing, usually gained from shunning those who ill.
It shouldn’t be so damned difficult (and rarely tangibly rewarding) to just simply do right for right’s sake.
2 comments:
I can very well imagine wt the residents of New orleans are going through. It rained here in Mumbai(Bombay) on the 26th July and the whole city was flooded. Trains down, buses down, cell network down and I was stranded far away from home. I reached home the next day.
Whatever the calamity is, the resilient public spirit will overcome it.
Yes, the public spirit.
I'm sure the residents of Bombay are much more accustomed to this sort of thing. And far less spoiled and impudent.
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