Ground Zero

Something else I have been thinking about in the last days is America’s immunity, over the last century, to disaster on its own shores. World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the two Persian Gulf wars, famines in Africa, and scourges like AIDS, which is killing millions of people in the Third World—none of these horrific happenings has had a lasting effect on us.

Even if in the two world wars (and other wars), American soldiers were killed or wounded in action, the vast majority of us were never in harm’s way. And most of us are still sitting pretty.

We have made an idol of our invincibility and our status as an economic giant and a military superpower. We have made an idol of our high standard of living, our religion, and our supposed closeness to God.

Until last week, when Katrina blew in, we thought we could handle any and every crisis that came along. But in five short days, some of our most cherished ideals—take “government for the people,” for instance—have been exposed as illusions. To the despairing and the dying in New Orleans—and thus to everyone—all our glorious American achievements mean absolutely nothing.

This should not depress us.

from After Katrina, Some Hard Questions by Johann Christoph Arnold