GREAT EXPECTATIONS

How much does America expect from its government? Apparently a lot. In the coverage of Katrina, it has been comical to watch the various media outlets querying whether FEMA could have done more, or did Governor Blanco freeze, and of course, the whole thing is the fault of George Bush. The truth is that the blame for the hurricane rests squarely on the shoulders of Mother Nature. The breach in the levees is just one more in a long series of man-made follies trying to defeat her....and failing.

We live in a world of instant gratification and solutions. Two hundred and fifty five cable television channels blaring 24/7 have taught us that most problems can be solved in an hour, with the more serious problems taking the length of a mini-series. We have totally lost our ability to be awed by forces larger than ourselves.

That is, of course, what has made America great. No job is too big. No work is too hard. There is no task that can't be accomplished. We demand perfection in all our institutions, both private and public. The vice lies in forgetting that our institutions are made up of human beings. If you find a perfect human being, call me up so I can go look. Our conditioned minds, however, demand the West Wing White House rather than accept the Real World White House. It isn't there, and never will be.

In the cold harshness of reality, San Francisco is going to quake. Johnstown is going to flood. The Titanic is going to sink. Chicago is going to burn. The Germans will march around the Maginot Line. (Go to your history books!) The Challenger and Columbia are going to blow up, and Katrinas will continually hit our mainland. Not that we shouldn't try to do better. We should. We should always demand the very best from our country's officials at whatever level of government.

But the shrillness of the current debate is unseemly. We all need to stop and appreciate the majesty and power of nature around us. Nature's shock and awe is mightier than anything us puny humans can produce, or prevent.


Comments

Anonymous said…
Pratchett's Johnny Heads To BBC
Pratchett's Johnny Heads To BBC SF writer Terry Pratchett's best-seller Johnny and the Bomb is being turned into a children's drama for the U.K.'s BBC One in 2006, the BBC News Web site reported.
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10:58 AM
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