I’m trying to figure out why all these hurricane relief concerts don’t ring true.

Katrina is not 9/11.  Oh, a lot of people died, but they’re fundamentally different.  Unless you worked in the government, no one foresaw 9/11.  We were just walking happily through life, and we got smacked upside the head.  Not only when we weren’t looking, but when we weren’t expecting it, when we couldn’t even CONCEIVE of it.  Some alien outside force.  Did we have to worry about this for the rest of our lives?  Boogie men 24/7?

That’s what we were afraid of.  Irrational suicide bombers blowing us up at any moment.  We had to be on guard.  We had to be ALERT!  Hell, until recently, and isn’t it funny it hasn’t happened recently, not much after the last election, all too often the government told us it was code YELLOW, or RED!  And that this weekend something could happen!  Not that we could do anything about it.

And we were concerned with those affected by the tsunami because these poor souls were just that.  Poor.  They didn’t have the luxury of living in the western world, where we had modern detection systems, modern information systems, where this couldn’t happen.

But they told us Katrina was going to make landfall again and again and again.  Those of us living on the opposite coast were aware, and prepared.  But what we could not foresee was the aftermath.

Oh, we could handle death and destruction.  Happens every day in the good ole’ U.S.A.  Accidents are part of life.  But we counted on the government to clean up as best it could.  For everybody to pitch in and make things better.  Like they had in disasters past.  We didn’t think anybody would die AFTER the disaster.  We didn’t think lawlessness would rule.  We didn’t think we’d be viewing the equivalent of a third world country on our television screens.  And, THIS FREAKS US RIGHT OUT!  Because, this isn’t mother nature, or them, this is us.

Who are we?  Do we bear individual responsibility for our survival?  Has the concept of a safety net evaporated and we must prepare at all times for physical and economic disaster?  You can’t declare bankruptcy anymore, if hell descends upon you, you must have a plan to get out in ADVANCE!  Or, the foresight to not get caught in hell to begin with.  As if you can see hell coming.

The Christian values our society was built upon.  Helping one’s brother…  What if you’re not Christian?  What if you’re not of the same color as the majority of Christians?  Kids in parochial schools were transferred to new parochial schools essentially instantly.  Those going to public school in New Orleans…they’re whiling away their days in the Astrodome with no instruction, none foreseen for months.

We thought we lived in a CAN DO society.  Do we really live in a CAN NOT?

And how high can we tolerate the price of gasoline?  Even if you drive an SUV you can’t get rid of it tomorrow.  Didn’t the government say SUVs were safe?  The right car to buy?  Would they let us buy vehicles with such shitty gas mileage if they foresaw a gasoline shortage?

But did they foresee a shortage?

Who’s minding the store?

Who’s SUPPOSED to be minding the store?  Is it the federal government, the state government or the LOCAL government.  Or, as referenced above, is it really only about me.  Is America just a bunch of mes.  All fighting for survival.  THAT’S scary.

And, make no mistake, we’re scared.

We don’t expect to die because no one reaches out and takes care of us when misfortune appears.

We can KIND of get our head wrapped around the concept of not having national health insurance, but can we count on the fire department, the police…a helicopter to rescue us if we’re stranded in the mountains?

Well, if we just do what they tell us to do, everything will be all right.  But at dinner last night someone brought up the concept of the mayor of Los Angeles telling us we all had to go to Staples Center to weather a natural disaster.  Not one single soul at the table would go.  Be there with all different races and gang members?  With possibly NO police force?

NO WAY!

So musicians getting on TV asking for money…that doesn’t work for us.  Because as much as we’re concerned about those directly affected by the hurricane, we’re more worried about OURSELVES!

Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow…when the apocalypse hits, they’re covered.  U2 and Neil Young too.  They’ve got their money, their connections, their retinue, their safety net.  They ain’t gonna let us stay at THEIR house.  They ain’t gonna fly us out of danger in THEIR private jet.  Not that it’s about criticism of them, it’s just that when they get on the tube and sing their songs it’s just not going to make us feel better.

Oh, it used to be that musicians were above the game.  For a while there anyway.  Artists inviolate.  Who followed their hearts.  Now they all have endorsement deals with giant corporations who will take care of them in a pinch.  Their songs just don’t resonate as truth within us.  You can hear the money in their performances, you can’t hear the despair.  You can’t SEE the despair.

And make no mistake, the people in New Orleans are desperate.  And we’re anxious.  We’re verging on desperation too.

We want someone to address our desperation.  Not to tell us everything’s gonna be all right, but whip out some pie charts, explain where all the money is, and how we can depend on institutions, how we can drop our fear that the country will slip into lawlessness in OUR backyard.