I feel like a horrible human being--r/o
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| Fri, 10-28-2005 - 5:54pm |
Hello All,
Today, I feel like the most horrible, ungrateful, selfish human being. Let me explain. I live in one of the areas that was greatly affected by Hurricane Katrina. Luckily, me, my family and our residences were mostly spared by the devastation that Katrina wrought. Unfortunately, a lot of people, including some of my friends, were not so lucky.
Because of the widespread destruction of Katrina, most people (myself included) are not working. Some of my friends, mainly because of housing issues, have taken this time to travel extensively.
Now, let me just say that I am extremely, extremely grateful that I have my family, my health and a roof over my head, but I still can't help but feel the little green monster when I hear of my friends traveling adventures or the neat places they have and are visiting. And, I just wish I could also spend the down time that I have traveling too, instead of paying (more like requesting extensions) bills and looking for another job.
So, my issue is that I feel like the most horrible human being on the planet for feeling slightly envious of my friends trips, considering what other hurricane-victims (all over the Gulf Coast, the Carribean and Mexico) are dealing with.
Anyway...thanks for letting me get this off my chest.

I don't quite understand how your friends are traveling instead of trying to get new jobs and pay bills also.
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That is why I prefer to donate goods rather than donating money.
No kidding.
While I work with FEMA, I don't work for them. I work for a different agency and handle stuff related to actual FEMA employees. Unfortunately, this kind of abuse is pretty rampant and the federal statutes rarely have definite or specific clauses for punishing fraud or false statements. On top of that, the federal government simply does not have the resources to investigate these people and my guess is that, even if the Inspector General of Homeland Security did get an air-tight case for court, the U.S. Attorney's office would not want to touch such a politically sensitive issue with a 10 foot pole.
Remember the stories of people using their cards to buy designer bags? I saw on the news the other day that some people are actually selling the MREs they were given on Ebay. Unbelievable. I actually didn't give any money for the hurricane relief effort. I figured that billions of dollars in federal aid is enough. In fact, the Washington post reported that federal money spent on katrina is expected to pass $200 billion. I did some volunteer phone banking, but did not give money specifically for hurricane relief. I was speaking rehtorically when I said "my donations." My charitable donations for each year are decided in November of the previous year and then done through payroll deductions.
Totally off topic from the original post, and for that I apologize to the OP, but there are certain ways in which I won't donate money, either.