Through The Eyes Of The Child

What will the children affected by Katrina remember?

Will they remember the wind? The loud sound of debris as it crashed into their shelters?
Will they remember running for their lives from canal water which invaded New Orleans after the storm? Will they remember leaving home, family, sometimes being separated from siblings and parents?

In years to come when they think about Katrina, will they remember the kindness of strangers that helped them reunite with parents, find a home, start at a new school? Will they remember a community that opened it's arms to them, welcoming the evacuees into a safe enviroment where they might rebuild their lives?

Will they remember us with kindness?

Or will they remember that help was slow to come? Will they remember the anguish of their parents as they waited on rescue? The days without food or water? Will the image of Americans who called them too stupid or too lazy to evacuate color their memories and cause them to doubt themselves or be filled with self loathing? Are they going to be doomed to be a part of a self fulfilling prophecy based on the narrowed minded views of the greedy?

Will they think no one cared?

I hope it's the former. I am sick of hearing how we must balance the money given to New Orleans by cutting out other social programs. I'm simply tired of hearing that all entitlement programs are bad, as if the term is a dirty word that isn't whispered in polite society.

We have given billions to Halliburton alone. How bout' balancing the funds needed in LA and Mississippi by cutting the bonuses we pay them for bilking the government?

If we can spend money, without hesitation, on the people of Iraq, why can't we do it for our own? It is not wrong to be concerned with the conditions of others around the world, but why exclude Americans from our compassion?

The quagmire that George Bush has created has handicapped us in so many ways I have lost count. Begrudging the survivors of Katrina the aid they so desperately need is only one example.