hurricane katrina

[1love2k5]

i'm devastated about the loss of the katrina victims. i wish i had a million dollars so that i can donate 2 the victims. i know how it is 2 b homeless. no food, water, shelter, electricity. i've been there, done that. i was homeless twice b4 & it's not fun 2 b alone & depressed & feeling left out. i'm from florida, & a few years back when the hurricane andrew hit back n 1992, i was devastted. my family members could've been swept away while i was n south carolina. i'm really glad they were still alive. their house was severly torn away, but no1 was hurt. does ne1 remember the hurricane hugo in south carolina back n 1989? i was n florida that year n 1989. well...i'm glad i wasn't around ne of those hurricanes bcuz i would've been dead a long time ago.i think it's really heartbroken 2 c people u love die right n front of ur eyes. that's never happened 2 me, but i think 1 day, it will. if u knew some1 who was caught up n the tragedy or has been a victim, can u tell me how that could've affected u?

[cichlid]

There's probably something wrong with me...but I do not feel sorry for them. They are being taken care of by the government. They were before the hurricane. I think if they are still homeless there is something wrong (they really didn't own the homes to begin with). It is not that hard to get a job and an apartment. I also feel that the media greatly made everything look worse than it actually was. I read an article about it and I wish I still had it.

 

Not everyone is homeless that came from that area. Those that have money had insurance. If you did not have flood insurance you should have known better. I am 20 and knew when I was 13 that home insurance does not cover flooding. Yes, it sucks to learn the hard way.

 

I guess I am just irritated that our government has been throwing money around like it is no big deal. My grandmother used to work in social services (or something) and would see the type of people that came there. Many get into the system and stay there...I guess I got the lack of feeling sorry about people from her and my mother.

 

I'm sure it is hard...but individuals often cause their own situations at times. There is nothing keeping many of them back from getting a job and an apartment. Nothing. Of course I am generalising and saying all of them were poor. But that is a poor area of teh country to begin with.

[Carnatic]

There might be a problem getting a job if half the places that they could've got jobs at have been washed away. And what if they couldn't afford flood insurance? Not everyone has the luxury of being able to buy their way out of every unfortunate situation.

[cichlid]

Oh, well when I took my person finance class in high school there are a lot of people worse off. It is all about priorities. If insurance is not a priority then be prepared to pay for it later...or else do not live in an area like that. You can also put away money in case of emergencies. It does not take much to do that...just put aside X amount of dollars and do not touch it.

 

If you cannot afford PROPER insurance what are you doing owing a home in the first place? It will just come back and get you really. I do not own a home but I am assuming it varies according to the size of your home.

 

There are still other places to work. And the situation is a lot better than it was. People can always go elsewhere for jobs. But there are a lot of people that just sit back and do nothing. You seem to not realize I get annoyed with the people that do not do anything and just wait for others to help them. People get into the system and stay there. They do not try to get out.

[sonjam]

Elizabeth, thank you for your views, but you are obviously still young, and you have not been in the situation where you only have 10 dollars, now what do you do with it, feed your children, or pay the insurance?

 

Life still has a few nasty surprises install for you if you look at the world from the pedestal you are on.

 

For all the rest of us, I do care about those people, and I too wish I had a lot of money to help them, and also the poor people in other countries. I live in a very poor country, South Africa, we don't have hurricanes, but we have poverty and aids. A lot of the people here did not get the disease from sleeping around, but got it from blood transfusions, or worse, having been rapes. The males here at some stage believed if they raped a virgin, they would be cured of the disease.

 

A lot of the things that happen to you in your life, you can control, and choose, but a lot of things you can't. It is not always that simple. Some people grow up in a padded cocoon, and never get dealt the hand of misery until it is too late.

[katefl24]

I tend to agree with Elizabeth. I live in Florida, and after Hurricane Wilma we did not get $2000 from FEMA. We were expected to bear the related hurricane expenses ourself. Those of us living here have learned that we need to prepare for these kind of natural disasters, to protect our homes and ourselves. It is very expensive to live in South Florida, part of that being the high cost of home and flood insurance. (Most people pay over $3000 a year for the home insurance, and flood insurance is about $1000 a year.) Yet people manage. If they can't, they should move somewhere else.

 

I was very "poor" for a while in college, and know the stress of wondering where you will get money for gas, for food, to fix your car when it breaks down. Every little thing in life is harder without money. But for me that wasn't an excuse, I found ways to get by. And I vowed that I would never LET myself be in that position ever again. Everyone has choices in life, and I do agree the New Orleans situation has been shaped and molded by the media. When I first heard about the $2000 FEMA cards that would be unregulated but "suggested" to be used for necessities, I knew that it would be abused. Why couldn't the governemnt limit them to pay for food, clothing, and housing? Food stamps are regulated so as to limit the abuse. I was not surprised at all to ready that FEMA cards were spent at strip clubs and on alcohol, as well as other abuses that were clearly not hurricane related necessities.

 

There was no other big story going on, so the media decided to cover Katrina. (We didn't see near as much on Wilma and the destruction in caused here.) I do feel bad for those who were really hurt by it, but what about everyone in Florida who were out of work for a week and didn't get paid because we had no power, some still don't have power here? We got nothing. (I am lucky that my company was good enough to pay everyone even though we didn't work, but many were not as lucky.) But maybe I too just sit on a pedestal...

 

PS - If I had only $10, I probably wouldn't own a home because I know I couldn't afford to protect my asset, I would rent as it's cheaper anyway. (Or if it were REALLY bad I would qualify for Section 8 housing assistance. Some pay as little as $0-$50 a month in rent through government programs like this one!) Then the owners would have to pay for Hurricane related dwelling damage and I probably wouldn't own enough valuable furniture/personal possessions to need rental insurance anyway. Where there's a will, there's a way. People do whatever it takes to survive.

[1love2k5]

i disagree with u kate & elizabeth. first of all, how would u like it if YOU guys were n that same situation with the katrina victims? F.Y.I.: it wasn't the dog gone victims' fault that they were left without food, electricity, shelter, etc. it's not like these people WANTED the hurricane 2 come. u guys r young like me. obviously, i can c u guys showed no remorse bcuz it can happen 2 ne1, maybe even ur family members. every day, people die 4 a reason. neway, how would u support urself if u were a katrina victim & had NO money? i can c u guys don't understand my point of view. like i said b4, it can happen 2 YOU or nebody. if u talk like that, something BAD will happen 2 u. 2nd of all, i don't think u chicks knew what these people really went through. sorry, but i'm gonna have 2 agree with sonjam.

[katefl24]

Didn't you read when I wrote, "I LIVE IN FLORIDA, WE JUST HAD HURRICANE WILMA?" Obviously, I have been in a similar situation to Katrina victims. Florida has had 3 major hurricanes is just over one year, how do you think we feel? We didn't ask for Hurricane's Jeanne, Frances, and Wilma (plus Katrina but it was only a category 1 when it hit Florida - people seem to forget that it did hit us though). Oh yeah, I forgot, the media didn't give us the coverage New Orleans got after Katrina. The rest of the nation has no idea how bad it was to be without power, groceries, gas, money from atm's, hot food, HOT SHOWERS etc. for over a week (some people up to two and three), people not having jobs to work at because everything is closed because of no power. And yes we have blue tarps ALL OVER - in fact my neighborhood still hasn't finished repairing the roofs from Jeanne last year.

 

I do feel bad for them, but I hate people making excuses. By the way, I do know what great personal loss is as I lost both my brothers at ages 20 and 21 - it CAN happen to anyone, even my family members. And it sucks, and I felt like giving up at times but you know what? I made a choice to go on and live my life in a positive, productive way. You have a choice, and trust me at times I would rather have given up (almost did), but I make the choice every day to get up and go to work. I didn't have a job after the second brother died and it was extremely hard for me to force myself to go to interviews (or to get out of bed at all some days) as it all felt so pointless but I did.

 

Bottom line: What's different between New Orleans and Florida really? You ignored that point completely. Why should some people be expected to prepared for these things and others aren't, the government is expected to take care of them.

[cichlid]

And in reply to teh above poster...the government is not there to take care of you in that way. If it was we would not be free.

[1love2k5]

i don't think that's true at all. i disagree with you cichlid chick. the GOVERNMENT is there to help people get back on track. for your information, i never said anything about the government being free or taking care of you. that's their job depending what type of situation(s) you've occurred in. you're only how old--and you think you know everything about the government and stuff. where's your research at sweetheart?

[cichlid]

Okay, I'm back. Let me first start of with saying this. In government there are many different views and none are incorrect. People are stubborn as heck in their beliefs and I am not trying to change your views, but merely at least get you to see where I am coming from. I am sorry if some of my replies have been a bit on the nasty side. From now on I will try to reply a bit more nicely if you do the same. In this reply I will give you a little more "researched" post ...though I see little in yours to begin with. I actually see none, but in the future at least give me some decent evidence and support for your views.

 

First, I would like to present my personal views on the subject. The government is there not to make sure the citizens are financially stable in reality. It is there to protect its citizens from other nations and injustices. It is there to protect your goods; not to replace it if it gets destroyed. It is not really the government's place to step in. It should not go left alone either. Charity should be the one to take care of these things.

 

My only problem is all these food stamps, welfare, and stuff like that. I see some wrong with it. Like I have said before my mother and grandmother have personally seen people get into the system and stay there because they are better off. They see no reason to go back to work. Food stamps again have its issues. Everyday at work (I work at as a cashier at a grocery) I see many people come in with food stamps and buy junk food. Chips... sodas... pizzas... sweets... and many other things they do not need. They come in all the time and always buy this sort of thing. It disturbs me to see this abuse. I mean okay, I can see it if they wanted a treat every now and again. But no this is every time they come in. It is not fair. I also feel that the requirements to get this are not good enough. They should be stricter if they are to continue.

 

And also with the cards that were given. There were no limits. They could buy anything! Although it is there responsibility to make the right decisions with the money the government gave them, I really think that was a bad idea. I do not like to see my money wasted. If we want to stop poverty and all that jazz, something else needs to be done. Minimum pay should be higher! Even a dollar higher can have a huge impact on people’s lives. The government only fixes the symptoms…it does not fix the problem. People should also get better educations. More of a focus should be on that.

 

Not being mean but there is a reason why some people are poor. Some just do not have that good of an attitude and are unable to hold a decent job. Some are lazy and honestly need to get up and do something! Some are physically or mentally unable and those I feel sorry for. Even if they wanted to support themselves they can’t really.

 

To prove my point about the bad attitude in some people I will give you this example. I live in Oklahoma and some people from New Orleans came here. I know people that actually worked voluntarily in places that gave them food. I have no clue where it was, but they came here and people I know served them food. Maybe a shelter was it. Anyway, the woman was serving these evacuees and they were just plain rude and unappreciative of the effort that people were making for them. A few even went as far as to throw their food on the floor because they didn’t like it. The told the woman in a rude manner to get them more tea. I think they said, “Yo, white woman! Get me more tea!” Not saying all were like this, but obviously it does show you the nature of some of these people.

 

 

(scroll down to see our type of government then research it)

 

Anyway...please make an effort to provide a better argument than just saying I am wrong. Do not say I did not give you enough research, because it is more than what I see from you. We were about the same when it came to research to begin with so I find that a funny comment to say. Along with you attacking my age. I am only a little bit younger than you. Oh, and I am currently in a respectable college and studied political government over the summer. I almost got an A in the course, but managed a high B. I have a 3.52 which will go up this semester (since I have a good chance of getting a 3.75-4.0). The only reason why it is that low is because I did poorly during the spring semester. C in computer programming which took so much time to study and write programs that I barely had any time left for my other subjects (A's and B's for the rest). BTW...I have only gotten one C! I have parents that feel that politics is important. I have known of politics for quite awhile and do not come from a family that does not care. I'm majoring in industrial engineering so I am not a moron doing easy course work. Just so you know...