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This Month – "Katrina"

The events of the week of August 29 th will likely go down as one of the most horrifying moments in America’s history. It is said that the greatness of a nation is measured by how well it takes care of the weak and the poor. I think most of us would agree that for one week in August 2005, we didn’t do so well.

That said; we now have to make plans for the future. How do we move forward? How do we move forward in a capitalist society under girded by a culture of individualism? How do we shift the collective psyche of the nation away from the unspoken rule that you ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ to the less individualistic view that ‘it takes a village.’ Because you see given the magnitude of the devastation, it is going to ‘take a village’ for a very long time…, and while we all understand this in a crisis, I don’t know that we collectively agree with this as a way of life for America and Americans.

Truthfully, I don’t have any answers except to say that we might want to start by rediscovering the power of prayer. I know I for one will be praying for greater understanding between people in part because I am still struggling to reconcile the calm ‘everything is under control’ position of the bureaucracy during this past week with the desperate cries of those in need. I will also be praying for the children, that the memories of the horrors they endured will dull; and finally I will be praying that hurt, anger and loss will be replaced with love, forgiveness and provision.

Submitted by Tolu A. Oyelowo