Improving Lives
This essay came out with a fair amount of punch, but it is not really directed at the sub-boss. It is more directed at all those arrogant people out there who presume to know what is best for others....
A few days ago, the sub-boss of the Biloxi team said that he understands that many people died in the hurricanes, but at the same time many people are better off. It is a similar sentiment to the First Lady, and a position that I find obnoxious. It is shocking and upsetting to me that someone who works in this city could say that.
The sub-boss and others who make this argument believe that because poor people will make an extra $2 an hour their lives will be better. People without much money are not complex humans, rather they are “poor”, a disease so horrible that a partial cure in the form of a hurricane is a god-send.
I wonder if the boss would accept $500 in exchange for destroying all his photographs of his parents, grandparents, children and of himself? Would he would accept $1000 to destroy his wedding album, his grandmother’s locket or his child’s baby book? How much would he accept to destroy every thing of sentimental value, every possession, every detail of his past? He would never accept it, not even for a million dollars. No one would. No money, no future opportunity, nothing, can make up for the losses sustained during Katrina.
I challenge the sub-boss or the First Lady to to find one person that says, " While the hurricane was rough, my life is better now. All things considered I am glad it happened," - and if they do, I will find 10,000 that swear the opposite. How can someone work amid the molding remains of 300,000 lives and think people are better off. Has he never been out of the office? Does he not talk with anyone from the public.
If you take nothing else away from this blog, take this: never let anyone get away with saying that the hurricanes were a good thing. If a blowhard wants to sell their history, their memories and a piece of their soul in exchange for a few thousand dollars a year, than god bless their cold little heart. But if they presume to tell others what is best for them, to lecture those who have lost everything that it is not really that bad, to explain all the hidden benefits of losing your life, then perhaps their soul is not even worth the pennies they would sell it for.
A few days ago, the sub-boss of the Biloxi team said that he understands that many people died in the hurricanes, but at the same time many people are better off. It is a similar sentiment to the First Lady, and a position that I find obnoxious. It is shocking and upsetting to me that someone who works in this city could say that.
The sub-boss and others who make this argument believe that because poor people will make an extra $2 an hour their lives will be better. People without much money are not complex humans, rather they are “poor”, a disease so horrible that a partial cure in the form of a hurricane is a god-send.
I wonder if the boss would accept $500 in exchange for destroying all his photographs of his parents, grandparents, children and of himself? Would he would accept $1000 to destroy his wedding album, his grandmother’s locket or his child’s baby book? How much would he accept to destroy every thing of sentimental value, every possession, every detail of his past? He would never accept it, not even for a million dollars. No one would. No money, no future opportunity, nothing, can make up for the losses sustained during Katrina.
I challenge the sub-boss or the First Lady to to find one person that says, " While the hurricane was rough, my life is better now. All things considered I am glad it happened," - and if they do, I will find 10,000 that swear the opposite. How can someone work amid the molding remains of 300,000 lives and think people are better off. Has he never been out of the office? Does he not talk with anyone from the public.
If you take nothing else away from this blog, take this: never let anyone get away with saying that the hurricanes were a good thing. If a blowhard wants to sell their history, their memories and a piece of their soul in exchange for a few thousand dollars a year, than god bless their cold little heart. But if they presume to tell others what is best for them, to lecture those who have lost everything that it is not really that bad, to explain all the hidden benefits of losing your life, then perhaps their soul is not even worth the pennies they would sell it for.
posted by JNA | 11:50 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home