MidWest Flooding - UPDATED WITH CLARIFICATION

I received the following letter today (via SusanUNPC at NoQuarter). With the author's permission, I am sharing it here. I am leaving it to Christopher, the author, to share my response to him (in the Comments section), should he so desire. But his letter is the point here, and I do not wish to diminish that in any way (it is reprinted as he wrote it with a few typo corrections, nothing that alters the substance of the letter, though):

Rev. Amy,

I write this letter through tears. Tears of empathy for those suffering in Iowa form the flooding. I am watching a report on the news of people in Iowa who have lost everything that are going back into their homes to find nothing worth saving.

I have seen this before. I was in the outer zone of impact from hurricane Katrina; Baton Rouge. I donated money and clothing, as did my family; poor as they are, they shared what they had.

During hurricane Rita, my spousal equivalent and I hosted four complete strangers, who were unrelated to each other, in our home for almost a week. My spouse's company sent out a memo, asking people in Baton Rouge to host employees from Houston who had nowhere to go. The employees could continue to work in the office in Baton Rouge, if they chose to do so, guaranteeing them a paycheck and a distraction.

The company was closed the day of the hurricane. We all huddled around the TV until we lost power. Then we listened to the radio by candle light. As Rita pounded Lake Charles and the state line between Texas and Louisiana , Baton Rougeans could only give thanks that we were not directly in the in the path of Rita's destruction and pray for those who were.

As our guests watched the houses around us lose half the shingles on their roofs and trees have their leaves blown off like one would blow to make a wish on a dandelion, we could see the palpable fear in their faces. Assurances that our house withstood Katrina's winds rang hollow. Several retreated to my two person prae dieu kneeler to pray, others sought privacy to cry themselves to sleep through the nightmare.

After the winds died down and the power was restored, everyone in the house breathed a collective sigh of relief. The reality of having to return to Houston through the destruction left by Rita sank in. The strangers, who were now inextricably joined together as a family, quietly packed their few belongings, gave us tearful goodbyes along with heartfelt words of appreciation, then headed out into the unknown.

Flash forward to today. The Midwest has been pounded by merciless tornadoes incessant flooding and an unfortunate loss of life. Not to mention those who have been displaced. Somehow the MSM and the politicians think it is business as usual, much like they did during Katrina and Rita. Where is the outrage, where is the empathy?

Has America become so desensitized to suffering that we just can't turn off our political minds for a few days to concentrate on our fellow (hu)man(s) and his or her needs right now? Is it because the victims are predominately white? CLARIFICATION HERE: What I was attempting to say in an inarticulate manner that really came off badly from my point of view, was: is Washington delaying their reaction so as to not offend the Katrina victims, in some sort of warped parity, they don’t want to be seen as rushing to the aid of whites? It will be the same amount of time that Bush visits Thursday as it was when he visited N.O. Am I just cynical and distrusting?

An example of this is the two emails I received from Al Gore and Howard Dean (Christopher had the two emails attached to his email - if anyone has NOT seent hem and wants to, let me know, and I'll post them in the Comments section). Why is the Global Warming Czar more concerned about Barack Obama's needs than those of America's heartland? Why is Howard Dean more concerned about sounding the alarm bells about the way John McCain raises campaign funds than sounding the alarm bells on human suffering?

I have yet to officially leave the Democratic Party but, I have, as you know, let them know where I stand and requested them to never contact me again.

My question to you is: what do I do? How do let them know that these actions are nauseating, not to mention morally reprehensible and indefensible? How do I send them a clear message?

Thank you for your time, and for your blog. I await your reply and humbly remain,

Sincerely yours,

Christopher
BlueDawgDemocrat

I concur with Christopher that there has been BLESSED little said by either politicians or political parties on the devestating flooding moving from state to state to state, at this point. Updated: I think there is a temendous disconnect between the majority of politicians and the people in this country. The politicians, and political parties, seem so removed from people's DAILY lives that when something of this magnitude happens, they have a difficult time comprehending the magnitude of these natural occurrences for these people. (Along those lines, remember when Bush talked mostly about being able to return Senator Lott's repaired home while people were literally without food and water?? Uh, yeah. Just to prove my point...)

Thank you, Christopher, for writing, and for sharing your story with me (and now, us). I appreciate your expressions of empathy, compassion, sadness, and anger, about this very important issue.