Apparently I needed to well up today. I turned on the television this morning and watched the coverage of the anniversary at Ground Zero. I couldn't help but watch and wonder whether I'd have had the strength to go up and read names if I'd been one of the siblings of the fallen. My family members who were there that day survived, thank God. I will hold this day sacrosanct, however, for many others were not so fortunate.
That said, I believe that the tragedy that befell the Gulf Coast will have more long-standing physical and financial impact on our nation. Hurricane Katrina wiped out large portions of towns that must now be rebuilt -- not just New Orleans. And it had direct impact on people in terms of evacuation if not actually death than what occurred in New York, Washington, D.C., and the field in Pennsylvania four years ago today. Should there be a distinction between a natural catastrophe and the outright murder and willful destruction of the Twin Towers and the portion of the Pentagon? People are dead. At a time like this, I'm not going to quibble.
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Apparently I wasn't being clear enough when I said "physical and financial damage" because one reader (and a friend) called me crazy because the president is not about to create a department of Hurricane Security. Nor are we going to war against Mother Nature. I agree with him.
I wasn't talking about the subsequent war on terror. I wasn't talking about the political fallout. I was talking about the physical and financial aspect of the tragedies themselves.
But my friend makes a very good point: it's better not to compare these two tragedies at all, which was actually the point I was closing on in the above entry. On these two topics, I should probably quit while I'm behind.
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