The Way It Should Be, Right?

The New York Times has THIS article about the new strategy that coastal states have for dealing with the threat to life and limb that hurricanes present.

As it turns out, the strategy boils down to this -- TAKE CARE OF YOU AND YOURS!

From the article:

This save-yourselves approach comes after government agencies were overwhelmed by pleas for help after last year's storms and strongly criticized as not responding swiftly or thoroughly enough to the public need. Now, officials have said repeatedly, only the elderly, the poor and the disabled should count on the government to help them escape a hurricane or endure its immediate aftermath.

Mississippi, where more than 200 residents died in Hurricane Katrina, unrolled a "Stay Alert. Stay Alive" hurricane awareness campaign in April. State officials told residents what to pack in a "go-kit" for evacuating (flashlight, radio, nonelectric can opener) and, like many others, commanded them to stockpile at least three days' worth of water and food.

Horry County, S.C., home to Myrtle Beach, held a hurricane exposition last month and is giving similar presentations at Kiwanis clubs and homeowners associations.

"The big shortfall is complacency with the community," said Randall Webster, director of Horry County Emergency Management. "Our main theme is, take interest as an individual and make preparations."

That is the way it should be, if you ask me. The responsibility of every healthy citizen, especially Christian citizens who claim to be concerned for the weak and sick, is to be ready to haul you and all those for whom you are responsible out of harms way. IF all the able-bodied persons plan now for this, then the precious and precarious resources of the federal government can be concentrated on the needy. To fail to plan ahead is not simply complacency it is a lack of caring about ones neighbors.