Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?

I feel that this blog is so insignificant that I shouldn't even post about something so serious and so tragic, but I've really been disturbed by the events of the past week. The death and destruction that turned into anarchy in New Orleans is so tragic mostly because it could have been preventable. The city could have been evacuated in time. Supplies could have arrived earlier. The National Guard could have been called up to keep order instead of being thousands of miles away in Iraq. Instead thousands of people have died and even more are suffering because not enough is being done to help them.
It's true that this catastrophe has exposed the vast racial and social inequality that our nation is rife with. I always thought that a hurricane, an earthquake, a tornado affected everyone equally. It was a force of nature; it couldn't discriminate. But this hurricane has proved me so wrong; the ones that have suffered the most are black and poor, who were left in the most untennable neighborhoods. I want to believe, naively perhaps, that through this tragedy we will learn to respect each, to be fair in our political policies, to help our neighbor, to do unto others as we would have others do unto us. I saw in New York after September 11th and the black out two years ago, how a city could pull together in times of crisis; that it was possible to reach across the boundaries that seperate us. I began this entry intending to critize those people who have been pointing fingers at the Republicans, at the Democrats, and even at the residents of New Orleans, and instead to say that this is a time for us to pull together as a country to help those in peril.
Yet the longer I sit hear, unable to do anything, the more angry I become at the people who do have the power to help. Flying over the affected areas and giving press conferences is not going to help the people who need food, water and medical care. A lot of people are donating to the Red Cross, which is excellent, but another (non-monetary) alternative is to donate blood. http://www.nybloodcenter.org/index.jsp And don't forget the pets, a lot of them are being left behind: http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer.