FEMA Suspends Disaster Trailer Sales

[AustinBoston]

With all due respect Old Goat.  Have you forgotten about the New Deal started by Franklin D Roosevelt?

Indeed; nobody would have admitted to a 4 year old that they were receiving government help, so he does not know "there was no FEMA or any other goverment agency with money to help anybody do anything."

My parents (7 and 9 at the time) lived through the 1938 hurricane (only 3 years later than the one Old Goat mentioned) that hit New England, killing 600.  They never talked about government aid, but in fact there was quite a lot of it.  One of the things the Massachusetts government did was to buy thousands of acres of hard-hit beachfront property, with the damaged and destroyed houses on it, and turn it into a state park (Horseneck Beach SP).  My father knew of no government aid, even though it was his father, uncles, and grandfather who sold the land!

It's not that there was no aid, it's that it was a shameful thing to have to accept it, so no one would admit to doing so.

Austin

[CajunCamper]

I think the point is that years ago, people didn't sit around waiting for the government to act. Today it seems to be the norm. For example, the people that you saw on the news every night that were stranded at the New Orleans Convention Center, could have walked out of there without even getting their feet wet. The Convention Center is located next to the Mississippi River in New Orleans, where the levees were high and dry. A hike of a couple of hours at most and they would have been out of there, instead, they chose to sit there and wait on the government for days to get them out. I do believe that we should help our fellow man when he is helpless and needs help. But when he refuses to do for himself what he is capable of doing, I have a hard time in that situation. Since Jesus was brought into this conversation earlier, let me add that when Jesus healed the crippled man He then told him to pick up his matt and go. He didn't say sit there and we'll get someone to carry you away. We are to have compasion as Christ did, but we are also expected to pick ourselves up and go.

CajunCamper

[Jim K in PA]

I am new to this board, and new to PUPs, but this subject has hit home.

In January 2006 I volunteered with a church mission to do Hurricane Katrina relief work.  The mission was to Waveland, MS.  You might recall that Waveland was one of the worst hit by the Hurricane in terms of both flooding and wind.  The president visited Waveland twice, at least.  The devastation was unimaginable.

The church that hosted us concentrated efforts toward helping the elderly.  It was a fantastic experience overall.  Over 30 people went on the mission, and we worked on 8 different homes.

Without exception, the work we did was appreciated by those that received the assistance.  I went in to several of the FEMA trailers that these folks were living in.  They were clean, well kept, and a poor substiture for even the meager homes that they used to live in.  But they were grateful to have them.

What disappointed me was the lack of support the younger folks gave to the older folks.  The older folks lived next to their children, nieces, nephews, etc.  But the younger generation was nowhere to be seen when it came to cleaning, fixing, working.  It was disheartening to see.  Now, admittedly not everyone is able to replace roofs, run wire, hang sheetrock, tape, spackle, etc.  But they sure as hell can do demo work, haul trash, etc.  We observed none of that going on by anyone other than the out of state volunteers and the actual homeowners (to the extent that they could).

We did our work with grace and respect for these people, and did our best to emulate Christ.  But I do wonder what the future holds for this country.

Jim K in PA