scottsimpson.net

alea iacta est

So it seems that SDSU has made facilities available for those suffering the ill effects of the recent Hurricane Katrina. Soon, up to 600 displaced persons could be living across the street from me. It's all rather interesting, to me, the seqence of events leading me to the writing of this blog. When the hurricane first struck, I saw it as a news item on CNN. "Oh," said I, "that kind of sucks." And then I didn't really hear much about it for a while -- as the tuner on the living room tv doesn't work, and as I just never really clicked on the links about it on the news sites. And today, a dual pronouncement--I read on the BBC's (rather dull public) website that the area of devastation is roughly equal to the size of the United Kingdom (!), and I found out that quite a lot of these displaced persons (gotta use the term, I've never been able to use it in anything but an abstract way before) may well be coming to live literally in my neighborhood for a few months. And suddenly staring at my copy of Kierkegaard doesn't quite seem as important. And just as suddenly, my copy of Hobbes seems to come into focus -- there have been shootings and crime sprees throughout the devastated areas -- in the absence of a common power, man's evil side bubbles to the surface.

I've contributed to the Red Cross (through iTunes! what Genius!) and I suggest you do the same. My Fraternity has compiled a website of aid sites at FraternalRelief.org and I suggest in strong terms that you peruse that as well.

The compelling problem with a disaster on the scale of this one is not in gathering aid, but in the dissemination of it. Luckily we don't have to worry, as a nation, about diverted aid like so many nations in other parts of the world. But the sheer scale of the calamity makes it difficult to distribute aid in an equitable fashion, and to make ready aid from the reserves that are held for just this sort of disaster.

Thus a bottleneck, and thus a problem.

Solution: divide the afflicted. It seems like a good idea to me that those afflicted by this disaster are being sent elsewhere, into welcoming communities not burdened by catastrophic damage, where aid becomes managable and access to resources might not be as strained as it might be if loads of aid (food, medical supplies, etc.) were simply flown en masse to the afflicted area.

But largely we are now presented with an excellent opportunity to do good, and prove Hobbes wrong (in a way) by giving of time in a volunteer setting wherever possible to help out these people (pretty much like you and I). Red Cross, volunteerism, it all helps someone in some way. So do it. I dare you.