This is... grrr. It's hard to handle at this point of the game. Watching MSNBC and Keith Oberman right now after just getting through with Nightline. Nightline was good. I don't know if it's because of the death of Peter Jennings, but they seem to have gotten better. I've always enjoyed their coverage of events and their stories seem to be the television equvilant of NPR documentaries. It just seems a bit more focused as of recently.
So, an excellent episode tonight highlighting not only a lot of the obvious struggle, but picking out some stories that don't seem so advertly sentimental and soft-newsy. Specifically two stories dealing with the people still in New Orleans. One dealing with a family who are resisting leaving their home, but through conversation (shocking! conversation!?) nearly all caught on camera, their convinced to leave. And they're shown getting onto the med-helicopter and the woman who was the most resistant to leaving, is shown joking around with the officials around her. The other story shows groups of business owners and residents in the less-damaged French Quarter who are staying there and continuing to live and even operate on a relatively normal schedule. One home was shown in Jefferson Parish (I believe) that even had their lights on.
The different approaches taken and shown within these two stories are just so wonderful and inspiring to see and hear. Flipping channels, I just seem to get these two opposing viewpoints of what's going on down there. The recovery, rescues, struggle, cleaning, helping, reaching out... and then the presentation of "looting" and violence going on. Some stories even suggesting that the whole of New Orleans is/was diseased and damaged BEFORE the hurricane with extreme violence and crime...getting oh so close to suggesting that they had it coming. One piece of evidence was that the city was #1 in murders....in the mid 90s. Hell, then I guess New York had 9/11 coming as well as Washington. Washington D.C. should be a nuclear wasteland if that is a piece of evidence to prove that a disaster isn't that bad.
This IS 9/11. This is the quandry I've been posing to myself for quite a long time about my late Uncle John. Had all been well, he should have been in the towers on one of the very floors that got hit by the planes on September 11th. He would have died at the hands of Osama Bin Laden and numerous other terrorists/murderers. But he wasn't. That moment...on that day...he was having surgery on the brain tumor that would eventually end his life many months and treatments later. A part of me feels like he died on 9/11, though. His death is connected to that day for me. But I don't have anyone or anything to blame but the hand of God for his death. There's no congressional investigation and hearing for his death. Yes, there is cancer research. Admitting that, but carrying on...
It's made me ask, which is worse? Having that quick death by the harsh hand of another... or a slow death with only the heaven's to curse.
This question seems to apply, philosophically, to the situation going on currently and with the anniversary of 9/11 quickly approaching.
This depresses me and distracted me constantly through my classes.... We have not learned a thing. Not a thing.
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