Hurricane Katrina and Human Nature

While down in Mexico I heard tell a little story to try to help me understand why someone or something was a certain way... Seems that one day this frog was sitting by the stream and a scorpion came crawling up to it and said, "Good day, Mr. Frog. Would you be so kind as to take me across the stream, you see, I can't swim and I simply must get to the other side." The frog looked the scorpion over and said, "Not so fast, Mr. Scorpion, I'm afraid you'll sting me." The scorpion insisted and argued, "Why would I do that? - if I sting you, we will both drown." After thinking it over for a moment the frog reluctantly agreed and allowed the scorpion to climb aboard its back and he started swimming across the stream. About half way across the frog suddenly felt the agonizing pain and quick paralysis of the scorpion's stinger. "Why did you do it?" he gasped with his last incredulous breath. "I can't help it," said the scorpion before disappearing under the rising water, "it is my nature."

While watching the catastrophe unfold, we reacted with feelings of disbelief. "How could this happen in America?", was the phrase which quickly became a platitude amidst so much suffering. Yet, should we have examined the nature of things and human nature, we should not be at all surprised at what transpired.

First, the hurricane, a natural phenomena, was predicted with great accuracy and fair warning. In contrast, consider the thousands that were caught unawares in Galveston a century ago. They did not have the benefit of satellites and modern technology to accurately predict storms. We do.

Next, it was a well-known fact that much of New Orleans sits below sea level and equally well-known that a levy breach was possible. After all, the levies were only designed to support a category three hurricane.

So, knowing this, that a category five hurricane was rolling menacingly towards New Orleans, what did many thousands do? They decided to stay put and weather the storm.

For someone living in the bowl which is New Orleans - how could it have come as a surprise when the water started rising around them?

Now, the media has been quick to blame the Federal and local government for failing on many levels, and I will address that shortly. But I think it bears mentioning something that nobody likes to talk about, and that is the question of personal responsibility. I understand that there are poor folks, and then there are the really miserably poor - people that should have been given a helping hand, by neighbors, local government, whomever. But I ask you - of the people that chose to stay, despite warnings, how many had vehicles? had a way out? but chose to stay anyway? We all saw countless vehicles up to their mirrors and higher in water. I know poverty, but honestly, how many of those people do not even own a car? Maybe not a late model SUV mind you, but some clapped-out jalopy that could at least take you out of the danger zone?

So, you live in an area prone to flooding, as you and everyone in your neighborhood knows and has always known. What is your plan? What are you going to do when the Big One hits the Big Easy?

I will tell you what many did - nothing. I will tell you how many prepared - they did not prepare. I will tell you what plan they had to protect their loved ones - they did not have a plan.

Why? Now, the answer lies with human nature. Many who suffered needlessly in that catastrophe will have to do some soul-searching to find the answer to that question. That is, if they stop blaming everyone else, except themselves, for their dilemma. What they will most likely find, is that they, like many of us, have flaws. Flaws which cause us to make poor choices in our lives.

I have always been told that the true test of a person is when he finds himself in a crisis - that is when you know the true nature of a person. We know just how true that is in our relationships with other people. You think you know your girlfriend or husband, or whomever, until one day something happens, and he or she is put to the test, and either you are pleased he/she is all that you hoped, or more times than naught, you are very disappointed. A crisis, will amplify a person's character - it will bring out the best and the worst in anyone.

So, if someone's nature is to be a procrastinator, for instance, or lazy, or just plain irresponsible, or foolish - then that flaw is what will cause you not to have a plan. It is that flaw which might just get you killed. It is your nature which failed you when Nature brought a day of reckoning.

For those I risk offending who suffered mightily because they did not seek higher ground, I hope that this catastrophe has taught you, as it should teach all of us, of the importance of having a plan. Though, we might not live in a bowl by-the-sea, all of us should prepare for some catastrophic event, whether it be a tornado, earthquake, or some man-made folly.

We humans, do have the ability to change, but sadly, it often takes a personal catastrophe before we do. What is the nature of your character? Will it make you a survivor or victim?

Next, I consider the nature of government in light of the supposedly surprising revelation that our local, state, and federal governments were proven to be incompetent. For those citizens that were told to go to shelters and arrived at a dark human cesspool with no power, no toilets, no water, no security - I share your outrage. For those that had no means of escape, while public school busses stayed unused in their parking areas - Did the government, on any level, have a plan? Clearly, they did not.

How is it possible to have a shelter for people without generators and fuel to run them? It is possible because they did not have a plan. Whoever heard of a shelter without sufficient food and water? No one - because it was not a shelter - it was a warehouse for human suffering, not unlike and reminiscent of a slave ship's cargo hold.

Why? Because government, like a person, also has a nature. After all - what is government if not a collection of individuals chosen to serve the public? Sadly, the worst characteristics of people also find expression in the public servant. Laziness, procrastination, indifference, greed, corruption - you name it and you will find a human flaw exemplified in government.

Therefore, it should not have come as a surprise that government is bound by bureaucracy and incompetence. That, is the nature of modern statist government. It may be the nature of governments since time immemorial.

If we were not so lazy and subservient, we should demand more from our servants. At least, many will see government in a new light - unable or unwilling to do the only thing it was invented to do - protect our lives and property. Sadly, many will only place blame rather than seeing its true nature.

Lastly, I thought about the sad nature of all those that shamelessly used the tragedy to advance their own agenda. "We should have spent millions on the levies", we heard, "we should pour millions of dollars to help the poor not be poor", "we should blame Bush for global warming which causes hurricanes". Everyone trying to gain some political advantage, none asking the hard questions: What is the nature of a person that keeps him impoverished? What is the nature of our society that it provides opportunity to some, but not others? What is the nature of a thug that causes him to loot and pillage during a crisis? What about someone would make him fire upon rescue workers? What is the nature of someone who would hurt others when they are already down? What kind of person is insensitive to the suffering of others to the point of having the power to help, but refusing to exercise it? What is it about government that makes it fail at the moment of truth?

All the answers to those questions and many more about human and governmental nature are there for the asking and revealing on the stage of the human drama of catastrophic devastation brought by hurricane Katrina. May we learn the lessons well.