Katrina Caused How Much Damage?!

I was going to write about the new movie coming out in March called Stop-Loss and a website called Stop-Loss Sound Off that lets military families post comments and videos regarding the stop-loss policy. However, on the way to work this morning I heard on the radio about a lawsuit that survivors of Katrina are bringing against the government and I feel more compelled to write about that.

From what I heard, 500,000 families that are refugees from Katrina are suing the government for $300,000,000,000,000,000. (I don't even remember the word for that much money.) If you break it down, that is approximately $6 billion per family.

I'm not saying those families, among thousands of others, did not suffer because of Katrina. I can't even imagine what they must have gone through and what it must feel like for them to have lost everything. Katrina was a horrible disaster and I hope Americans never have to suffer through another disaster like Katrina.

That being said...The families are suing the government for not issuing the mandatory evacuation soon enough. Can someone please explain to me how this is the government's fault? Last time I checked, weather forecasts were not determined by the government. In fact, I can even pick up my newspaper or go to my local TV station and see an up-to-date weather report. Weather reports are available to the public now. If the weather man is calling for a thunderstorm, I'm not going to go outside and wait for the lightening to strike. However, if I do go outside and I get struck by lightening, I'm not going to sue the government for not issuing the warning to stay indoors.

So, if your local weather man tells you a massive hurricane is a-comin', get the hell out of Dodge!! It is not the government's responsibility to tell you leave. Let's think, for a moment, about why the government issued a mandatory evacuation. Because your dumb ass was still sitting in your living room in New Orleans instead of in your car driving in the opposite direction! If you had packed up what you could when the warnings and recommended evacuations first started, a mandatory evacuation would not have been necessary.

Whether you like it or not, sometimes you just have to have a plan. Most families have a plan, an escape route, if there is a fire or a break-in. Leaving stuff behind is hard, but sometimes you have to do it to survive. Here's a story to illustrate my point. After 9/11, it was feared that nuclear power plants would be targeted. At the time, I lived, worked, and went to school within a 10-mile radius of a nuclear power plant. In the event of an attack on the plant we would not be permitted to go to our homes, but would have to leave the area. I wore disposable contacts, which meant I could get by wearing them for 2, maybe 3 days. My eyes were bad. Without contacts or glasses I couldn't see more that 5 inches in front of my face. Even though I didn't want to live in fear, I did live with the knowledge that bad things that I have no control over can happen and because of where I lived a nuclear power plant attack would force me to leave my home. So I started carrying around a bag containing my contacts, glasses, and solutions with me in the trunk of my car, so that if for whatever reason I had to just go, I would be prepared and not be disabled because of my eyes. My family also had 5 dogs. During that time we had to deal with the issue that if something happened we would not be able to go home to save them.

Now perhaps a lawsuit of some sort could be considered appropriate. After all, our government can spend billions of dollars on investigations involving eating food (Don't ask me to explain. It involves a local unit and it is absurd.) so why not give some more to disaster victims. However... $300,000,000,000,000,000?!?!?! $6 billion for each family?!?!?! Katrina was a terrible disaster and afterwards thousands rushed to help those in need. Most Americans consider Katrina to be the worst natural disaster our country has ever faced. But $300,000,000,000,000,000, turns this tragedy into a courtroom circus. I can't imagine how much money this is. How much is a number with 15 zeros behind it? I can't fathom following the universe to the very end anymore than I can fathom this supposed number. This number turns the tragedies and sympathies of these families, into a "That's typical." comment and eyeroll. I don't know how to take this seriously now.

Katrina was a horrible, horrible natural disaster. But if was just that, a natural disaster. Those kinds of things happen all over the world, everyday. Just because you were a victim of one does not give you the right to be greedy. There are people who are victims of murder, rape, abuse and countless of other crimes that will never see the justice they deserve. $6 billion for a natural disaster is not "justice". It is the greed that has taken over our country because people don't want to be responsible for their actions or inaction.

It is not our government's fault that Katrina occurred. It is also not it's fault that those families did not leave their homes in time. Was the aid after the hurricane lacking from our government? I honestly don't know. I do know that when the government was called out for not helping the refugees more quickly, a shortage of money, manpower, and equipment was blamed. If that is the case, then losing $300,000,000,000,000,000.00, is certainly not going to provide more money, manpower, and equipment to the government during the next disaster.

I do realize that those families suffered greatly because of Katrina. I know that they lost everything and they will never get it all back no matter how much money they have. I wish I could do more and that our government could do more to help those families. Even if our government had issued the evacuations sooner and even if those families had left their homes sooner, they still would have lost what they could not have taken with them, which most likely, still would have been a significant amount.

Sometimes life just does not go your way. As a military spouse, I'm all too familiar with that concept. Sometimes, it is no one's fault. Sometimes, it is your own fault. You just have to move on though. Even though that can be really hard, blaming someone else is not going to make it easier in the long run.