This past few days as my husband and I have gleaned from the computer the news of the horrendous effects of Katrina and subsequent flooding in New Orleans and the other states involved we have felt very helpless, being as we are half way across the world in Tzfat.

This morning I listened intently to President Bush being interviewed by Barbara Walters and as I listened the social worker in me picked up on something tremendously important! President Bush, and no doubt a lot of the other people who are in charge and are expected to react when things like this take place, are in shock! I watched as his face held the same look for over half and hour, I listened as his voice belied what any good social worker would quickly recognize as the tension that comes when abject shock has taken the person into a performance mode that allows them to continue to function when they have seen the unseeable!

Yes, perhaps the help is not quick enough in coming, and yes perhaps the response hasn't been what those in the throws of the destruction think it should be, or what most americans and others outside looking in would expect. However, if we take into consideration that we are seeing a situation which is the absolute worst case scenario, the ultimate destruction of an entire city, in fact not just one but many other smaller cities too, and add to that the fact that the US has never in her history since the Civil War ever had to deal with this many displaced, refugee citizens then we can begin to grasp what has happened to the officials who are in charge of the rescue and recovery mission.

Shock indeed! Shock and Awe at the viciousness with which a super storm can ripe the artery out of the heart of one of America's most loved, historic cities! This sort of shock doesn't just go away either, it can't because those of us who watch on the net, or read the newspapers or watch the television are only seeing small snippets of the total picture, while those whose job it is to bring sense out of this chaos are seeing the whole picture, not just the immediate problems of saving lives and rescuing the stranded or feeding and housing thousands of displaced victims, no but the entirety of the impact of this event...they see the facts that we as simple citizens can not. They know what may lie ahead for the next year or two, and see the greater picture of the impact on the lives of all Americans!

While the horrors and the loss of life, of possessions and of human dignity are extreme, the task of being in charge of trying to eleviate the suffering of thousands of people is also at this time extreme!

For myself the thing that bothers me most is that America can send at a moments notice a huge machine to help rescue some men from a sub that is stuck, or who can mobilize an army to help those victims of the Tsunami can't as quickly find a way to help with the evacuation and the restoration of law and order in one of it's own cities, and even that doesn't bother me as much as the fact that I don't see much of an outcry from the citizens of the great nation of America over the situation.It was in this vain of thinking that I came to the conclusion that the only answer can be the terrible tremedous shock of the whole event!

But I ask where are the common citizens who could voice an opinion, who might get off their couches and roll up their sleeves and offer assistance? Lost! They are Lost in the great sea of apathy that has devored their minds, they have watched so many movies about this sort of thing or played so many games of 'Perfect Storm' that when the real , thing happens they are so desenitized that they simply don't react!

So here is what I see from my perch on the mountain of Tzfat; the powers that be are all in a terrible state of shock, horrified that they are not really as prepared for this as they thought they were, and not functioning as they would if they were outside of the event looking on from the sidelines, and someone had better start to treat some of them, before their blood pressure or their hearts give out!

And the citizens of America had better get up from infront of their televisions sets, their gameboys and their computer simulator games and step up to the front! This isn't a test, it is the REAL THING, a great swatch of the southern United States sets in devisation and the citizens of those places need the help of the rest of the citizens if they are to survive! It is NOT the government alone who must reach out to help, every single american citizen who is able bodied and has the means will need to tighten their own belts and give till it hurts! It is time that Americans took a good long look at the situation Mother Nature has unleashed and then rolls up their sleeves and pitch in to do whatever is needed!

My grandmother of blessed memory used to always tell me,"G-D never gives us more than we can bear!" and then she would smile and say "But of course He expects us to help ourselves and others along so that what we are given becomes a shared load!"