Poor is poor, American or non-American

Now that hurricane Katrina is devastating the US's south eastern states, now that there are perhaps hundreds of Americans killed or missing, now that millions of people are homeless, it would be interesting to see how many of the death are from the rich families. I bet not too many. I bet the vast majority of those who are dead now or have become homeless are from poor American families. This is easy to see, especially now that the US poverty rate continues to rise (thanks to Bush and his rich bastard masters). Whatever the world-wide dislike that exists towards the Americans, is shared by the poor and the rich in the US as they are all, to millions of people around the world, considered to be rich, arrogant and selfish. But how true is it? How could majority of Americans be considered rich while 50% of the country's wealth is owned by the top 2%? Or while 80% of the wealth is owned by the top 10%? As I said the "fairness" in sharing the dislike is there, but the share in the wealth is not.

The other day, I saw a picture on Toronto Star showing some Americans in New Orleans. It was truly difficult to say whether it was the US or, say, Haiti. The faces were screaming that those people were incredibly poor. It was very clear that they lived in a different world than the rich top few percent Americans. Looking at that picture, I thought to myself that it was really not fair to blame the Americans for being spoiled rich arrogant. That's just not true.

I wonder how many of those people in the picture are dead now or have lost their homes and everything. I feel close to them. I feel sympathetic to them. I feel that I have a responsibility towards them as much as I have the responsibility for any other victim people around the world.

Despite trying to avoid talking about politics with my little one, I can usually sense a negative feeling towards George Bush and occasionally towards the Americans in general. I try to at least explain that Bush is not America and that America is not Bush. Fortunately, usually that works and I see the positive impact. My little one made my day today by offering the next weekly allowance to help the American victims of the hurricane Katrina. After this nice jesture and reminder from a child and now that Canada has offered its readiness to help the US, I too will do my part as much as I can. I Hope to find out how this can be possible and how I and my little one can help.

Update:
It appears that there is a desparate need for cash donation to help the living victims of the hurricane. Desi at GreatScat suggests the Red Cross, or call 1-800-HELP-NOW.

Remember! Some people are in need of our help. This is not just an American issue. This is our issue; a problem for all of us. Regardless of what the government/s will do or not, let's not wait for them to act. Let's do our part, our duty. Please give generously.