Father Jake Gets It Right Again

father jake:

[...] Some wonder about the anger and rage they hear from the victims in New Orleans. Some think the mayor went a bit over the top. I recognize this rage. It springs from feeling abandoned.

When I was young, I spent some years as a throw away kid. My friends were also throw aways. We had no families to speak of. Some of us lived on the street, depending on the kindness of strangers. Often those acts of kindness were few and far between.

As the years went by, the feeling of being abandoned by society grew into a burning rage. Acts of rebellion, and sometimes violence, felt very satisfying. We were of no worth to anyone. We were expendable. We had been abandoned. Sometimes, just to prove we really existed, we lashed out.

Yes, I recognize the rage I see in the faces on the news. And it saddens me. It also frightens me. Because here’s the truth of my experience; when one meets rejection and abandonment at every turn, eventually you have to face the possibility that you have been abandoned by God. There is no creature more dangerous in all of creation than a human who is convinced that they have been damned for all time. [...]

i will admit that i've been feeling depressed all week. it's just one of those times where i can't disengage my mind and my attention from the suffering and misery in the world. thousands of people around the country reacted with compassion and generosity towards the hurricane victims, but there has also been a continuous undercurrent of contempt, fear, and suspicion towards them. the gretna sheriff who prevented victims from walking out of the city is just one small example, although particularly appalling in my opinion. it just keeps going on and on:

It's not likely that victims of Hurricane Katrina will end up in Douglas County but a county commissioner said that any who might be considered for housing in a state tent camp should be screened to ensure they are not on welfare. [...]

Hunt described the remarks in a KPQ interview on Tuesday, saying she wanted to ensure people from the disaster area were more family types, "not the ones who were on welfare. Not the ones who didn't have jobs."

because living in a tent camp would just be too luxurious for them. i don't know what kind of coverage this woman has been watching, but i remember seeing lots of families among the victims of the storm. few of them will have jobs now anyways because the city they lived and worked in is covered with toxic sludge and raw sewage.