It must be mandatory that every blogger weighs on Katrina, here goes ...
Life is Suffering
I've been thinking about this simple phrase for months. Everywhere around me I see suffering; seeing it at the scale of Katrina is rending. I can't begin to wrap my head around the loss and tragedy.People Are Worse Than I Think
Its amazing to me how quickly people people beat a path to their soapbox explaining how their way of looking at the world would have made things better -- more government, more bush, less bush, less government, more jesus, less jesus, more green, more action, less talk, more compassion, more troops, more guns, less guns, less carbon dioxide, more justice. I have no patience for anyone who wants to extract political profit from human tragedy. In addition to the oppourtunistic self serving hordes, there appears to be an unlimited supply of morons.People Are Better Than I Think
I love the hero stories of the rescue workers and the people pouring themself out for people they never knew. Anyone who puts themselves in harm's way for another has my respect and gratitude.A Closing Thought
I've read some eloquent thoughts in the last few days. I'll share one of my personal favorites.
"If on Yom Kippur I decide to give God a stern talking-to about the suffering we've witnessed in the past year, that's legitimate; Judaism has a long tradition of arguing with God, from Abraham to Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev, the Hasidic rebbe who is said to have held a trial at which God was the absentee defendant, accused of having inflicted undeserved suffering on humanity. But in order to have that conversation, I need to uphold my end of the bargain, which means doing what I can, and continuing to hope."
Velveteen Rabbi, "On Katrina"
