About a mile south of my house stands the headquarters of World Care. It’s an international relief agency that collects food, clothing, household sundries and other needful things for areas in crisis across the globe. About 48 weeks out of the year, one could shoot a cannon off in the warehouse parking lot with little effect. But during highly publicized catastrophic periods, the place is packed with good hearted Americans trying to comfort the afflicted.
Many of the volunteers and donors are the same people who are opposed to homosexuality, Islamism, women who’ve had abortions and teenagers who don’t practice abstinence before marriage. Yet strangely, during a few precious weeks, they do not question the sexual or religious practices of those they donate to. For some reason, catastrophe brings people of all political and religious stripes together.
Perhaps what drives these microcosms of compassion is that devastation reminds us of how vulnerable we all are. After being pounded by the media about the dire circumstances left in the wake of hurricanes, tsunami’s, and terrorist actions, we adapt a kind of “there but for the grace of God” attitude. We open the floodgates of our measly little hearts because we’re grateful it’s not our family suffering, it’s not us wading through midriff high water to the local Rite-Aid to get our insulin. And then, when the media signals the crisis is over we go back to our cocoons of self-absorption and continue condemning those that are different from us, those that frighten us with their personal choices and values.
So it seems that victimization through circumstances we cannot control binds our nation together. But some people whose lives were decimated when the levees of Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans or the Twin Towers gave way are the same ones we judged so vehemently beforehand. Where was our compassion for those individuals before the disasters? Why is it okay to ignore the plight of those whose lifestyles and choices we disagree with until some unforeseen event turns their lives upside down?
Maybe this is why so-called conservatives have had such a lock on electoral politics of late. Their PR campaigns tend to make people feel like their values are under assault by tidal waves of liberal democratic thinking and policy. These people are made to believe they’re victims of vast conspiracies on the left to deprive them of their right to worship, own guns, and to hold on to tribal traditions. They’ve been convinced that they live on economic and social margins not because of anything they’ve personally done, but because of liberal upheaval. They begin to see themselves as victims of circumstances they believe they can’t control. It makes it easy for those people to place themselves in the same boat as victims of natural or unnatural events and for a brief couple of moments, identify with others in need.
Article comments
1 - Natalie Davis
The point is, yes, to think about and help others. For some odd reason, this came to mind:
Nighttime on The City of New Orleans
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee.
Half way home, we'll be there by morning
Through the Mississippi darkness
Rolling down to the sea.
And all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rails still ain't heard the news.
The conductor sings his song again,
The passengers will please refrain
This train's got the disappearing railroad blues.
Good night, America, how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done."