It's been a year now since we witnessed the horrors associated with Hurricane Katrina. What have we learned and, more importantly, how are we going to grow and develop, both individually and collectively, as a result of this tragedy? Juan Williams, a senior correspondent for NPR, political analyst for the Fox News Channel, and author of Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America, addresses this question in a provocative Op-Ed piece in The New York Times (September 1, 2006), entitled "Getting Past Katrina."
Williams notes that, among other things, Hurricane Katrina awoke many of us to the stark reality that poverty persists, especially among African-Americans. We seem today to be no closer to victory in the so-called "War on Poverty" than we are in the "War on Terror." In fact, says Williams, poverty in the United States has been on the rise since the start of the new millenium. And, in the City of New Orleans before Hurrican Katrina, the poverty rate was about double the national average and a sky-high 35 percent among blacks, who made up nearly 70 percent of the city's population.
Trying to lay "Partisan Politics" aside, Williams asserts that the poor, including blacks, bear some responsibility for getting out of poverty. And he contends that the prescription is clear: finish high school, at least; wait until your 20's before marrying; wait until you're married before having children; and, once you're in the work force, stay in: take any job, because building on the experience will prepare you for a better job. To quote Williams, "Any American who follows that prescription will be at almost no risk of falling into extreme poverty. Statistics show it." Importantly, Williams concludes that the real rebuilding project on the Gulf Coast requires bringing new energy to confronting the poverty of spirit, which he believes was tearing down the City of New Orleans long before Hurricane Katrina.
As I have asserted many times in this blog, and have described in my book, Prisoners of Our Thoughts, the authentic commitment to meaningful values and goals (or "will to meaning") requires a heavy dose of personal responsibility for, ultimately, only we--each and everyone of us--can actualize and fulfill them. In my book, I reference the following lyrics of Rodney Crowell from his song, "Time to Go Inward" (Track 4: Fate's Right Hand, Sony Music Entertainment, 2003):
It's time to go inward, take a look at myself.
Time to make the most of the time that I've got left.
Prison bars imagined are no less solid steel.
By refusing to be held a "prisoner of our thoughts," we can bring our will to meaning to life, and it will mean something. Indeed, perhaps it may even prove to be the most effective anti-poverty program of all!
What do you think of such an idea? And, what do you suggest might help people "get past Katrina"? As always, I look forward to hearing from you!
All the best,
Alex
Alex Pattakos, Ph.D.
author, Prisoners of Our Thoughts
founder, Center for Meaning
Santa Fe, NM USA www.themeaningdifference.com
Visit me at my "virtual office at the Global Dialogue Center www.globaldialoguecenter.com/alexpattakos
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