A Tale Of Two Cities Disasters

Four years ago a natural disaster played out on our television screens for weeks. News crews and celebrities clamored competitively for face time on the news, and public servants salaciously slashed at one another in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. While all of this political posturing was going on, the entire population of a certain city merely sat, waited and complained. That city's elected officials - along with the state officials, right on up to the governor - joined in on the finger-pointing to the detriment of the hapless population, only exacerbating the problems they had created by fostering a dependent constituency in the first place.

Fast forward to Fargo, North Dakota, where the Red River has been threatening that populace for the past week. Despite the threat to that city, as well as others along the same river, media coverage has been comparatively tepid in contrast to that of New Orleans in 2005. And while a rising river is vastly different from the relatively sudden onslaught of a hurricane, the fact remains that the citizens banded together and worked tirelessly to manually fortify the levees in an effort to protect their homes and their city.

In New Orleans, residents were warned days in advance of the impending storm and its likely consequences for a city located below sea level and yet they still neither heeded the pleas to flee nor did anything remotely resembling proactive to save their city. They simply sat and waited for an incompetent government to "take care of things".

Now it is being reported that the Red River may have finally crested, giving a slight respite to the weary residents who have been out working as a community to shore up the river's levees, doing what they could to stave off the loss of property. I have still not heard one report of FEMA being involved, and I doubt that the proud people of Fargo would even accept any assistance at this point.

This is what separates the peoples of this country. This is also what frightens the powers who wish to control us by "taking care" of us. New Orleans perfectly illustrates the mindset of the controlled, peoples who have grown generationally accustomed to having everything handled on their behalf. Fargo conversely reflects the society that I have always embraced; that of a free people who will reluctantly accept help in dire circumstances, be incredibly appreciative if that time comes, but resist it until it must be requested, however regretfully.

Bad news sells, and no one cares about a success story. God bless the people along the Red River. Job well done, and you should all be very proud.

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