Reflections on Resources

Yesterday as I peeled peaches to freeze for a winter supply, I kept thinking about all of the hopeless in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast who have had nothing to eat for days. I kept imagining how they would love a sweet and juicy peach.
This morning, as I had my morning Starbuck's coffee, I thought of those that don't even have water to drink.
As we took our cats to the kennel because we will be going on vacation for a couple of weeks, I thought of all of the people who had to leave their pets and everything else they owned behind.
I just now took a shower and thought of all the people slogging through muddy, rancid water with no way to even wash their face.
I am stunned and saddened and searching for answers, but not the same answers for which all of the pundits on cable television are searching. I'm looking at all of us, and wondering why and how do we, in a country that has almost unlimited resources and prosperity, allow so much poverty to exist? Because poverty is the issue here. All of those who stayed, with the exception of some fool-hardy folks who thought it would be a lark, were the poor, infirm and disenfranchised. All of the cable commentators talk about how beautiful New Orleans was. I loved New Orleans like everyone else: the great food, strong coffee and beignets, the beautiful old homes, even the quirky characters on Bourbon Street. But it couldn't have been that beautiful with that many poor lurking on the sidelines. Now I wonder at what I didn't see and what I might be missing in my own back yard. I am going to become a CASA volunteer within the next few weeks (Court Appointed Special Advocate - whose mission is to speak for the best interests of abused and neglected children involved in the juvenile court system.) As such, I'm sure I will be exposed to some of the poverty and neglect in my own back yard. Hopefully, I will make a difference.