03 January 2005

A loss for words

I’d much rather be doing this than fighting a war.
-helicopter pilot Lt. Cmdr. William Whitsitt
rendering aid near Jakarta

I'm at a loss for words to express how I feel about the tsunami, but this quote seemed to capture much of it. This is what we should be doing as a nation. This is where we should be. From our ships off the coast of Indonesia to our spy sattelites in orbit, we have such an amazing potential to help those in need.

Yet we're stingy about it. From his Texas ranch getaway, our president offers up less money in aid than he plans to spend on his inaguration. Later he relents and offers a more respectable figure, albeit a fraction of what we've spent on his ridiculous war. In doing so, he claimed it was important to assess the situation first. I guess he thinks it's important to be prudent when there are millions of people in immediate and dire need, but not when going to war.

Thankfully our citizens have shown they have more humanity than our so-called leaders.

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