Have we become weak?

[padams]

It is said that thousands could not get out of the hurricane region because they were too poor. The news media reports that hurricane refugees will need long term shelter and care provided by the government.

Have we become weak in the US? Have we lost our basic human survival instincts? Do we have citizens who have become wholly dependent on the government for their existence and are not able to take responsiblity for their lives?

The original settlers came to this country with virtually nothing. There was no air conditioned shelter waiting for them in Jamestown.

This country expanded to the west coast because people walked across the country with little more than the clothes they were wearing during the westward expansion in the 1800s. I traveled the Oregon Trail this summer. Those settlers crossed our country through far more difficult conditions than walking through waist deep water on a paved street.

In current times, thousands of Mexicans and others make their way across our border traveling hundreds of miles through Mexico and the US with nothing but the desire to work in our country. I know in all of these times, there have been many who did not survive. However, many more have survived and built their lives with little help from the government.

I fear that a year from now, we will still have some people sitting around in shelters waiting for the government to provide them with homes and jobs.

While 9/11 and the hurricane are horrible tragedies for our country, I worry about what would happen to the US if we are hit with a major terrorist attack (ie nuclear) or even a major earthquake that destroys one of our coasts. Will we have the ability to survive?

 

[Shutterbug]

Some of us at work were discussing this too. Wasnt New Orleans built way before air conditiong was invented?

 

[poohandwendy]

Will we have the ability to survive?

Some will, some won't.

Yes, I agree that we have become weak (when it comes to basic survival).

 

[Viking]

The problem is that two thirds of your population can't walk more than a couple miles even on perfect pavement due to their excessive weight problems. You just have to read the multiple threads about how people have to train for being able to walk the distances required during a day at WDW.
Or look at all the people using ECVs at WDW. Sure, there are some who have medical conditions, but many of them very obviously have those conditions because of their weight.
More walking and less driving would help with two problems: Health and gas prices.

Edited to remove a typo

 

[Luv2Roam]

We have become a spoiled nation.

 

[mom2boys]

Most of us live in a world where the government provides the water in our taps & takes away our sewage. I had a friend who grew up in NYC - she was 27 years old before she laid eyes on the source of the milk for her cereal - a cow. I will never forget her excitement over a field of cows. The grocery store is a distribution center, not the source for our food.
Can you build a fire & cook over it? (I don't mean turn on the gas grill.) I don't think we all need to become survivalists but some basic skills would be useful.

 

[Saphire]

One thing that surprised my family is how few people walked away. We talked about being at that convention center and what we would have done. All of us said we would leave first thing in the morning, as we could get 10 miles north by sunset. Maybe hundreds of people did do this and it just wasn't reported? I just know I could not have stayed in that place under those conditions. Now I realize many could not walk that far, but what about the ones that could?

 

[bz8bls]

Yes we are weak (self-imposed); too weak to help our own, however, we are strong in Iraq.

 

[auntpolly]

Hold on now, are you trying to say that the these people, trapped in a flood, rats, snakes, dead bodies all around, no medicine, no water, no food, gangs shooting etc etc etc.....they're sissies are something.

Now I've heard everything.

 

[mark&sue]

Many of these people were very vulnerable either too young, too old or needed medication.

I am lucky because my immediate family would be able to walk but my parents are in their 70s and would not be able to.


Susan

 

[auntpolly]

hold on I got more......family members dead or missing, pets dead, disease, fires, explosions, rapists, loss of all belongings, prisoners without a prison, sharks escaping from the aquarium, nursing home patients dying in the street.....

those weak pansies!!!

 

[Kitty 34]

Stepping out on a limb here....but I think "we" (as a nation) have become very lazy.

 

[Viking]

Yes we are weak (self-imposed); too weak to help our own, however, we are strong in Iraq.

You obviously get different newscasts than we get over here

 

[Puffy2]

I don't know about "weak" but we have certainly become ignorant - ignorant of world events, ignorant of corporate and political interminglings, and apparently ignorant of the sufferings of others.

 

[seashoreCM]

Broken glass. Alligators. Wading through the water once the water became two feet deep could have been risky.

But supposing some number of center city dwellers with very limited means had hopped the city bus to the airport the day before. They'd have been put in some shelter (an airport terminal?) and be high and dry and ready to walk some more after the storm.

Could some groups of people in the shelter gotten together and washed/shoveled out the rest rooms using water out of the streets, at least getting the rest rooms 25% clean as opposed to 0% clean by doing nothing?

Could some groups (large) have gone out, opened up a flooded grocery store, and carefully sorted out food to take back to the shelter?

People are afraid and sit back collecting welfare because bad things happened to them in years past when they got off their duffs and tried to make something with their lives. How many companies and government offices are willing to let these evacuees come in on the bus schedule and consistently take home an honest day's pay for an honest day's perserverence?


Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[va32h]

Well, I think those are two separate questions.

Have we become weak (as a nation in general, not the Hurricane victims)?

I would say probably yes. We have many conveniences in life that do not require us to be as hardy and adventurous as our ancestors. The very fact that we have to deliberately exercise - because our daily tasks require very little effort - shows that. Our modern conveniences ill-prepare us for natural disaster.

Will the hurricane victims sit and wait for assistance forever?

We can't possibly know that. I'm sure many of these people want nothing more than to get back to their normal lives. And this experience may leave them distrusting the gov'ts ability to help anyway.

Will there be people who are never able to put their lives back together? Probably. But I would wonder whether that is because they are deliberately unwilling, or permanently unable to function because of their horrible experience.

 

[jgmklmhem]

I am not sure weak is the word I would use.....but comfortable definately. I mean there are people on here who don't even know how to pump gas because their state won't allow them to do it (I blame the state on this one). What happens when they have to leave their state due to some big attack/natural disaster. I think basic survival should be taught in schools and not just in Scouts where I learned most of it. How many run of the mill people could start a fire without matches or a lighter? Know basic first aid? Know how to make shelter?

 

[dawgsgirl]

I would venture to guess that most of the poor, elderly, and sick that were at the SuperDome are completely dependent upon the government. Is that considered a weakness?

 

[staci]

As Americans, yes I feel we have become weak. Yesterday, I sat around the house all day, thinking I was dying, with a category 5 migrane and sinus pressure like I have never experienced. The living room was spinning, and the kiddos (ds and a girl i was babysitting) were driving me absolutely nuts. Fighting, whining, and not happy with whatever I was not doing to entertain them at the moment.

But do I think the people in NO are weak? NO! Most definitely not! I lay here yesterday feeling guilty, because I was whining and hardly able to take an afternoon in my airconditioned house, with a fridge full of food, a room full of toys, and beds for everyone. Just imagine what those in NO have experienced? To spend 5 days without food, water, and a bed, not to MENTION all the luxuries we all enjoy daily. I cant IMAGINE how I would have felt, starving, dehydrated, with my sinus headache, trying to entertain and comfort two children in a disease-infested arena, wondering if my life was going to end there.

Some have suggested that the people should have left adn started walking, or left and sought out food. From what I heard from news reports, no one was allowed to leave, at least for the first few days, and by the time they were, I dont think anyone woudl have had enough energy without something to eat and drink to walk all the way out of the city. They didnt have the luxury of sattelite photos showing where the damage was; they had no idea how to GET out.

I have so much respect for the people who just went through this horrible catastrophe. I am not sure I would have had the strength/sanity to come out alive.

 

[ThAnswr]

Hold on now, are you trying to say that the these people, trapped in a flood, rats, snakes, dead bodies all around, no medicine, no water, no food, gangs shooting etc etc etc.....they're sissies are something.

Now I've heard everything.

Beat me to it Aunt Polly. There aren't enough "rolling eyes" smilies for this doozy.