i must...

ah...the flag. i want to be proud of this flag, i TRULY DO. but, it is becoming increasingly more and more difficult. i feel a lot of anger, disgust, and sadness about the circumstances in new orleans and the circumstances of this country. the images from katrina make it obvious that something is askew in this great land of ours. has anyone else noticed that the vast majority of the people stranded in louisiana are black and poor? ok, you're not idiots...of course you have. i do not blame george bush for the chaos of katrina, what was he supposed to do, hold back the winds of distruction with his own bare hands? now, the man leaves something to be desired and he probaby believes that he COULD have taken mother nature down. i mean he actually believes that he can end "terrorism." i do not blame the disaster teams, or the republicans. i do not blame saddam or barney. i blame people who play the blame game! playing the blame game makes it easy to forget the images. blaming others takes the focus off of the problem. blaming equals all talk and no action. blaming leaves people on roofs for days without water or food. blaming keeps people poor. i'm done blaming the blamers now.

anger is a normal response to attrocious things. anger is not bad. jesus got angry. but jesus used his anger to fuel himself into action. jesus took action against the things that made him angry and he did it without sinning or blaming others. instead jesus dug in, he got his hands dirty, and he asked important questions, challenging questions, questions that made others think about their actions. can you imagine if jesus DID play the blame game? can you imagine if jesus, while up on the cross, started pointing fingers, because essentially it's OUR fault. jesus knew that blaming would get him (and us) nowhere. instead he said "Lord forgive them for they know not what they do." and then he committed his spirit to God. there is bad anger and there is good anger. bad anger leads us down a path of disaster. bad anger leads us to play the blame game. but good anger stirs in us the sense to rise to action. this stuff going on should make us angry. the pictures we see should start us asking questions, the kind of questions that make people think about their actions towards their fellow man. the news we hear should be bringing us to our knees, asking for forgivness yet again. read this stuff. it's good. let it anger you into action. then look at this because it's beautiful. brett caught it.