God helps those who help themselves

Does FEMA have problems?  Yes, and we all agree that gravity causes apples to fall from trees.  But is FEMA responsible for everything that goes wrong in New Orleans?  It's our responsibility to do  neighborhood planning to rebuild our city; it looks like FEMA has gotten tired of waiting for us to do that and is closing its Long Term Recovery Office here.  Oh, yeah, it's FEMA's fault that we can't do neighborhood planning because they didn't give us the money.

Come on, give me a break!  When are we going to start taking responsibility for helping ourselves?  We can't do neighborhood planning unless we get money from Daddy Washington?  Please.  Nagin is a nice guy, but he's not doing nearly enough to push the process, and he almost certainly lacks the ability to coordinate with other governmental entities.  Nagin seems best suited for a role in a take-off on Samuel Beckett's famous play, but in Nagin's version the play is called "Waiting for the Dough."

Comments

[Bill Henderson]

very funny Ernie, but so true.I read your comment after just reading about church efforts to help rebuild NO.

http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/digest/index.cfm?years=2006&months=5&article=604&pos=#604

New Orleans, Louisiana: Today, The Right Reverend Charles Jenkins, Bishop of Louisiana announced the Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative (JREHI). JREHI is a faith based non-profit organisation formed in response to the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina.

[Paul]

I agree with you. I have come to believe that in an age empowered by technology and the willingness to do more, we don't have any reason not to start to do more ourselves rather than rely on governmental involvement. The more of our independence and personal power we give up to government (and anyone), the less capable we become and the more reliant we are on the vagaries of government and everything else.

[Remmik]

I agree with everything said... "God helps those who help themselves" even this....but I've yet to find any reference in the bible to thishttp://www.a-voice.org/trivia/001.htm

[Dave Sarnackil]

You won't find the title reference in the Bible. See Bartleby.com:"God helps those who help themselves.—Sidney. Discourses on Government, sect. xxiii. Benjamin Franklin: Poor Richard’s Almanac."

[James Cahn]

I agree with everything you said except this: "Nagin is a nice guy"

He is? Really? I beg to differ with you. He is a guy who likes to appear nice. Were he actually a nice guy, he would have thought of a way to protect the people of the city instead of worrying what the political effect might be of evacuating them for "nothing". Nice guys do the right thing instead of the popular thing when life is threatened, even lives other then their own. One might argue that nagin just isn't that bright. While that is most definitely the case, is he bright enough to look at a storm as big as the state and say to himself, "people are going to die, if this happens--let's get them out!" Nagin should be tried for involuntary man slaughter.Now, when it is time for him to leap into action and plan communities, he is still lamenting about the federal help he did not get. Does this come as a surprise. We elect officials to help us in helping ourselves. If they can not, when does it become time to find those who can? If it is true that we must help ourselves, I say, the first step in helping one's self is to eliminate those who prevent us from doing so.