A Tale of Two Cities: New Orleans and Houston

By: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Banner of Liberty (www.bannerofliberty.com)

September 25, 2005

I just got off the telephone from talking with my sister, Roberta, who lives in Houston, Texas. I have been talking to her daily for most of the week because of the approaching Rita hurricane and because her husband is in Baghdad overseeing the reconstruction of Schools for Iraqi children, she is alone, is a senior citizen and has a pacemaker.

This week the media has been predicting the worst, urging mass evacuations, the destruction of the oil refineries and decimation of oil supplies when Rita hit. . An Associated Press headline read: “Hurricane Rita sparks exodus, nearly 2 million flee.” Al Jazeera, a rabidly anti-American Arab newspaper, began its report on the approaching Hurricane Rita by quoting President Bush, as saying: “‘We hope and pray that Hurricane Rita will not be a devastating storm, but we've got to be ready for the worst. ’" Al Jazeera in the same sentence also noted that Bush “was heavily criticized for an ill-prepared federal response to Hurricane Katrina.”

Al Jazeera reflects a theme widely voiced in the American and the world media, identifying President George W. Bush as the ultimate authority in fixing or CAUSING most of the world’s problems, including the damage caused by Hurricanes. As one of my European readers put it: “Katrina and 9-11 have sent an important message to Americans and to the outside world: Americans are not as invincible and unbeatable as they originally thought.” Al Jazeera noted that Katrina “has become America's tipping point,” which “in the Muslim world will determine the fate of his presidency and America's position in the world.”

Meanwhile, back in the White House, President Bush was encouraging us to look to a greater power than the politicians in Washington, DC. He called for a national day of prayer to be observed for September 16 to urge Americans to unite and “strive together …through perseverance and prayer” to “to help those who are hurting” as we rebuild. In that media ignored event the President said “No one is ever stranded beyond God's care. The Creator of wind and water is also the source of even a greater power -- a love that can redeem the worst tragedy, a love that is stronger than death.”

Some State leaders, such as Governor Perry of Texas, after Katrina’s devastation in New Orleans without fanfare and very little press interest opened its doors and its heart to those hurting victims of Katrina. By September 4, there were 250,000 Louisianans in shelters, hotels and private homes throughout Texas. Texas has stepped up to the plate and had given meat to the hungry, drink to the thirsty and taken in the homeless, as Jesus has urged us all to do. (Matthew 25:35)

On September 21st, John Kerry and John Edwards used Katrina to make a political attack on their 2004 opponents, blaming Bush for the “social and governmental problems” caused by “the devastation in New Orleans.”

The same day, Governor Perry began urging people in low-lying areas near the Texas coast to begin evacuating, and Mayor White of Houston urged people to evacuate voluntarily in his city if they lived in “flood-prone areas, storm surge areas and mobile homes.” It was at this point I began calling my sister Roberta. I had not seen the statement Mayor White made OR the map of the city posted on the City of Houston website that showed, by zip code, which areas of the city people needed evacuate. I had not seen his statement accurately and fully quoted or the map even mentioned by any of the media, which seemed to be urging EVERYONE to leave the city.

Had the media actually reported that important statement of the Mayor, I suspect the horrible mess on the highways leading North out of the City would have been greatly eased or eliminated. What happened, of course, were that people like Roberta, who doesn’t actually live in a flood prone area were being pressured on all sides by family and friends and the media to evacuate immediately.

I received an e-mail on the 21st from her telling me she was leaving with a friend that very day. That did not work out, and over the next couple of days as pressure mounted, and the traffic problems and shortage of fuel surfaced, Roberta, who is a praying woman, began to feel that it would be a mistake for her to get out in that traffic with her pacemaker. She realized that many of her neighbors also were staying. One neighbor invited her and others in the neighborhood to gather at his home to brave the coming storm.

While Roberta and I are not of the same faith, I believed that, if she were really in danger, I would feel it and so would she. We both felt that she would be in greater danger out on that freeway alone in her car than she would be at home. We both prayed about it. I called her this morning. The hurricane had weakened considerably and was not, as thought, going to hit Houston hard. As we talked on the phone during the time period Houston was supposed to be hit the hardest, Roberta made little reports such as: “There is almost no wind.” Or, “There’s just a small amount of rain.” Or, “The birds are flying around – and I just saw a butterfly!” And then, “The sun just came out!”

While devastation was feared a couple of days ago to the oil rigs and refineries at Galveston, very little damage occurred. However, complaining and anarchy prone New Orleans, is again under water. According to the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness New Orleans is “back to where we started as far as the cleanup goes.”

Let’s think about all this for a minute. When Katrina hit New Orleans, within hours we were hearing about rapes, shootings, massive looting and complaints from the Mayor that President Bush wasn’t DOING anything, all of which became fuel for the Bush haters, at home and abroad.

Less than 3 weeks later an even stronger storm was headed directly at Texas, whose governor had taken in hundreds of thousands of those who were hurting from Katrina. As Rita approached, the President, the Governor, Mayor White of Houston, Roberta, and many others were praying that “Hurricane Rita will not be a devastating storm.”

I think there is a message in this Tale of Two Cities for some of the constant whiners and complainers out there. The Lord does help those who help themselves.