You may have noticed, and probably don’t care, that I’ve left the Katrina donation links at the top of right column of the site. While I’ve been quite delinquent in actually writing anything on the site, though I think that should change shortly, the links are where they are because that’s where they belong and not out of laziness on my part.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t presume to have raised a dime for the victims of the destruction of New Orleans and the gulf states. The thing is, the pain of that event and the horror of those images isn’t as raw as it was just a short time ago - at least for those of us who experienced no direct impact. With whatever voice I have, I’d like to add to the chorus of people reminding everybody that we lost a major American city a few short months ago. Quite a lot is not at all right with the hundreds of thousands of American citizens left without a home or even a hometown.
Sixteen days from now, an unfortunate orgy of commercial exploitation will come to an end with the horrid whine of children, young and old, disappointed that they didn’t receive the precise piece of plastic, metal, or wooden crap that they wanted, oh so bad. This has something to do with Jesus, who must have had a thing for diamond tennis bracelets and the X-Box 360. Or Maybe it was that corpulent bastard Santa, who died for our sins, that forced this annual horror of outlandish commercialism and outlandish conduct on the part of otherwise reasonable people into our lives? I can never get this crap straight. Was it the virgin Santa Claus nailed to the cross by reindeer wielding brand new Black & Decker nail guns and modeling the latest line of Calvin Klein 100% cotton fitted briefs? Is that why we have to buy crap for freinds, relatives and coworkers who never wanted the crap in question anyway, and will probably throw it in the basement until it gets thrown out the next time they move.
Whatever. I say “fuck it.” Take the ten bucks you were going to blow on tube socks for your aunt Beatrice and donate it to the gulf coast releif effort. If Beatrice gives you any shit, tell her she’s old enough to buy just about anything she wants, and if she wants tube socks, she can bloody well go get them for herself. That’s just what Santa would have her do, had our sins not slaughtered the poor bastard and he could still speak for himself.
The residents and former residents of New Orleans and the Gulf states are still very much in need and will continue to need our assistance for years to come. Regardless of whether or not NOLA is rebuilt as it was, or something very different happens, the American citizens whose lives were thrown into utter chaos need our attention and our money. Let’s not let this fade away. Let’s see if we can get this one right.
For other bloggers; the Katrina relief effort and fund raising for the same is something worth mentioning every now and again on your blog. Even if you can only raise $10 with your site, that’s $10 that wasn’t available prior to your efforts. More than that, our collective audience tends to be a wonderful group of active and informed people who are likely busy with a number of projects. Keeping the Katrina relief effort front and center on your blog just might be an effective way of keeping it at the forefront of our audience’s mind. Planting seeds is the best most of us can do, so don’t shy away.
