Katrina victims struggle mentally

[snopes]

Many Gulf Coast residents still feel the wallop of Hurricane Katrina nearly two years later.

Mental illness is double the pre-storm levels, rising numbers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, and there is a surge in adults who say they're thinking of suicide.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...-illness_N.htm

[Malruhn]

Meanwhile, in other corners of the globe, residents and refugees that survive disasters that make this one seem like a stubbed toe by comparison, just continue on with their lives and get over it.

Only in America...

[Mickey Blue]

Originally Posted by Malruhn

Meanwhile, in other corners of the globe, residents and refugees that survive disasters that make this one seem like a stubbed toe by comparison, just continue on with their lives and get over it.

Only in America...

I must say I've never quite understood this logic.. Its sort of like the glurge we see time to time that comments on "You think you have it so bad, how bout this homeless guy with AIDS who lost his feet?" or some such thing.

Yes, there are people worse off, yes there are people way worse off, yes there are people who's situation makes the Katrina victims look like gods.. However that dosn't matter.

Really, with this attitude how can anybody but the very worst of the worst complain about anything?

Grandfather dying of cancer? Who cares, in country XYZ there are kids straving to death on the streets before they even get a chance to live.

Get raped? Hey who cares, in some areas women are raped on almost a daily basis, plus there are some places that have women (and men) as sex slaves, get over it.

9/11 was pretty small of a disaster compared to most disasters, and yet people are still bothered by it, only in America eh?

Murdered? Well hey there are people who were murdered earlier in their lives then you, at least you got a few more good years.

Poor? Hey at least your not homeless..

Homeless? Hey at least your not crazy..

Homeless and crazy? Well hey at least your not dead..


I could go on..

I mean really, we all pat each other on the back or lend an ear when people on this board have a problem.. But really every single problem on this board pales in comparison to some of the things people have to deal with daily..

For all but two people in the world there will always be somebody who has it better then you and somebody who has it worse, but just because you aren't at the top of the ladder dosn't mean you don't have it good, and just because you aren't at the bottom dosn't mean you don't have it bad..


Heck I was just on here complaining about a speeding ticket I got.. But hey I mean I could have crashed into somebody, or hit a person, or died in an accident, so why complain or seek help right?


-MB

[Astra]

You know what Malruhn? There are a lot of people abusing the system here. There have been for a long time.

There are a whole lot of others who aren't, but who still have to deal with blows to their finances from the storms, drastic changes in their environment, overburdened local services, inefficient and confusing government agencies, and feeling like their problems are being treated more like political footballs than anything to actually be cared about.

It's not so bad where I am, but it's definitely stressful because so many new people have moved from New Orleans out here and nobody is used to everything being so packed. Everyone is adjusting. Closer to New Orleans, it's downright depressing. Driving into the city there are still apartment complexes that look like the storm was yesterday rather than a couple of years ago. I hate getting anywhere near the Superdome or the convention center because I can't disassociate it from what I saw happen there.

Oh yeah, and hurricane season is approaching and all the weather forecasters can talk about is what storm is going to be "the next Katrina." That really helps things, especially when a lot of the levee problems that made Katrina such a disaster in New Orleans aren't fixed yet.

Maybe I should just go find one of those Red Cross debit cards and buy myself a big screen to make myself feel better and justify your complaining.

[Christie]

Originally Posted by Malruhn

Meanwhile, in other corners of the globe, residents and refugees that survive disasters that make this one seem like a stubbed toe by comparison, just continue on with their lives and get over it.

Only in America...

You are so asking for karma to come out and get you Malruhn. I mean is there a thread about Hurricane Katrina where you haven't come in and bellyached about how all the victims need is a good kick up the backside?

[Malruhn]

Thanks for asking, Christie. On my page 1 of the Katrina threads, there are 21 threads. I've posted on three of them.

That puts me at about 15%.

I make a great distinction between complaining (Mickey's ticket), and incessantly lamenting about a subject and never letting it go. I've been "karma-ized"... I've lost everything - twice. Life truly blew on a grand scale for about six months each time when I went to reach for my... crap, I don't have that any more...

And, of course, you all have heard me go on and on about it here, haven't you? I lost things that meant the world to me - that are irreplaceable - and I will never see them again. And, ya know what? After 28 years the first time and 24 years the second time, if I think about it, I can still feel the loss.

Considering how average I am - and I really do SCREAM average-ness - I consider this to be part of it. No, I'm not a person that just giggled away the loss, but I immediately set to making it right and rebuilding my life. The concept of "Oh, woe is me. Does everyone remember when I lost my favorite picture of my hero and I, Chuck Mangione, with him holding MY trumpet," just boggles my mind. Yeah, it suxxored to lose the pic, but DAMN, I was able to processs the fact that it was gone, and got on with my life! Nobody wants to hear it!!

Yes, I realize that there are mentally ill people out there. They need treatment. But I ask, how long do we wait? I don't recall a whole lot of people out there that were bitching about the 1906 San Diego earthquake while I was growing up. Where are all the people from Homestead, Florida that lost everything when Hurricane Andrew hit, screaming and crying about their losses?

There aren't any. They got smashed to the ground, picked up their bruised bodies and got on with their lives. It's time for New Orleans to do the same. I was there afterwards, I know that NO was destroyed. The effects stayed with me for a year, in the form of a young mother and her child that were displaced by the storm... and for a couple months, my wife and I would stay up with her when she cried about all the things her new family had lost.

But she picked up her life and went on to see what else might be out there. Why can't these people do the same? These people are as sickening as the "Al Bundy's" out there that can't seem to let go of that great game back in school... Yeah, it was momentus, now get on with your life. Nobody wants to listen to the story for the million and FIRST time... and I'm not too shy to tell them.

[chillas]

I highly suggest re-reading the second half of your own sig line.

[Ryda Wong, EBfCo.]

Originally Posted by Malruhn

Considering how average I am - and I really do SCREAM average-ness - I consider this to be part of it. .

And therein lies the difference. Malruhn, your privilege is so deepset, you can't see it to save your life. Nothing about the Katrina victims was average. Nothing. Therefore, you had a big ole head-start.

Originally Posted by Malruhn

Where are all the people from Homestead, Florida that lost everything when Hurricane Andrew hit, screaming and crying about their losses?

Totally different situation, the logistics, the scale, the economy, the level of displacement and devistation, etc. And for you to compare the two is simply silly. And I say that as a child of the coast, raised on the coast till adulthood. I know hurricanes. There has never been one in the recent history of the states that came anywhere close to Katrina. Never.

[Mickey Blue]

And therein lies the difference. Malruhn, your privilege is so deepset, you can't see it to save your life. Nothing about the Katrina victims was average. Nothing. Therefore, you had a big ole head-start.

Beat me to the punch, these people, or at least a great many of them, are not average, they are way way below.

They are below average on education, on skills, on contacts, on savings, etc, etc.

I'm average, I imagine, I have a few people I could call if the shit really hit the fan, I have some meager savings, and I have a small amount of crap (enough to fit in one car load anyways..), and thats way more then these people have.. Beyond all that they have the stigma of being refugees, they are black, many have kids and may be single parents, etc, etc.

The effects stayed with me for a year, in the form of a young mother and her child that were displaced by the storm... and for a couple months, my wife and I would stay up with her when she cried about all the things her new family had lost.

But she picked up her life and went on to see what else might be out there.

Did she succeed? I imagine alot of these people have been trying for two years to do the same and have been unable to and are seeing sympathy and more importantly aid for their situation starting to dry up fast and still being no closer to rebuilding a life.

-MB

[AnglRdr]

Originally Posted by Malruhn

Meanwhile, in other corners of the globe, residents and refugees that survive disasters that make this one seem like a stubbed toe by comparison, just continue on with their lives and get over it.

Only in America...

You, of course, have cites for the suicide rates of displaced peoples globally?