soapbox ...

I was going to post some thoughts, but, if you’re interested, you can just check the comments attached to this post instead, because that’s where I got on my soapbox this morning. And what’s left to say now except that I’m just really angry and upset for many different reasons – not the least of which being how I’m stunned at the general apathy I’m encountering in regards to the situation in New Orleans. Are people really that jaded? I guess people are.

I called the local Red Cross chapter today to talk about volunteer efforts. They’re offering one-day training courses that, upon completion, qualify you to be deployed for a three-week volunteer mission. Now, three weeks is a pretty unrealistic time commitment for people who work. For example, I’m already taking a week of vacation starting Monday – ostensibly to work on my house – but could I get two more weeks off with barely a day’s notice? It’s not very likely. And even if it were, I have many commitments here – some of which could easily be rescheduled or canceled, but others that could not. Also, it is not clear if volunteers need to pay for their own transportation, which could be quite costly in addition to any missed wages.

In any case, the very nice Red Cross volunteer who answered the phones agreed to try and find out about one-week deployments – she said there’ve been many requests for such from would-be volunteers – and that there are local volunteer needs as well.

Also, despite what I wrote in my last comments to the afore-mentioned post, I had to stop watching the TV news last night. At about 10 pm I finally shut off the TV. My head hurt, I felt sick to my stomach and I was more than a little grateful for the fact that I can turn off the noise and have some quiet.