Along with the rest of the nation and the world, my heart has been going out to the people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama this past week, after the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. They're saying it'll turn out to be one of the most--if not the most--terrible natural disasters in our nation's history. And they're sure treating it as such in the news media: even the death of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court could hardly get through on Sunday, because Geraldo Rivera was too busy posing for the cameras in waist-deep water.

I don't want to minimize what's going on down there, because I can't even imagine what it would be like to be involved in that. It's even worse that it's largely the poor who are suffering the most because they didn't have the resources to get out, or sometimes because they weren't in that great of health to begin with.

But I've got to criticize some of the criticism that I've been hearing. There's been a lot of finger-pointing at the federal government, especially at President Bush, for what's been going on. And frankly, it makes me sick in a number of ways. I'm not just saying this because in general I am a Bush supporter. It has nothing to do with politics; it has to do with human nature.

People are saying all the destruction is Bush's fault because he didn't act quickly enough (or even more laughably, because he has put so many National Guard troops in Iraq). I have a hard time believing that he didn't do everything in his power as quickly as he could. It's not like he heard the news of the flooding of New Orleans and said, "Oh that's too bad. Hm. I guess tomorrow or the next day I'll see if there's anyone I can send to help. But my favorite TV show is on right now."

Perhaps there should have been better preparations made. Help probably wasn't as quick as it would have been had the immense destructive force of the hurricane been anticipated beforehand. But, to paraphrase Monty Python, no one expects Hurricane Katrina. Hurricanes generally don't obliterate large cities. So I don't blame people for staying behind when they were ordered to evacuate. I don't blame relief supplies to not be as ready as they might have been. We just didn't know how bad it would be.

But it's not President Bush's fault. It's just a consequence of human nature.

I think what I dislike even more is how so many people are taking the position that it is the sole responsibility of the federal government to solve the problem. I laugh to think of how well that idea would have been received a hundred years ago, but I do realize that in a post-New Dea world, federal help should be expected.

I just don't think the federal government is solely responsible to help.

Every man, woman and corporation is responsible to help. Where are the critics saying that the Coca-Cola Company didn't respond in a timely manner with shipments of millions of bottles of Dasani water? Why doesn't the Democratic governor of Louisiana receive any flak for playing divisive politics and spending so much time criticizing Bush instead of solving the problem on a state level? Did every church in the area do everything it could?

Of course, many corporations have been very generous, the state governments have also been doing everything that they can, and countless churches have promptly stepped up to the plate. But I don't see why all the criticism goes to the federal government when there are so many other entities that should be (and are!) on the scene.

We can't expect an enormous natural disaster like this to be cleaned up and fixed immediately. The damage is unprecedented in scope and in kind (when else has an entire major U.S. city been so completely destroyed?). There will be suffering. There will be loss of life and property. I wish it weren't so. You wish it weren't so. President Bush wishes it weren't so. We're all doing the best we can, but sometimes our best--even the best of the federal government--isn't good enough.

Let's stop shouting about who's to blame, and start working together to help the people who are suffering.