by Richard A. Cheatham, Press Media Group, LLC

One positive thing that can come from horrendous tragedies like Katrina’s descent upon the Gulf Coast and New Orleans is the fact that certain realities, placed low on our list of priorities, demonstrate their real importance. This difficult time has made certain painful facts perfectly clear.

We gamble everyday in every decision we make. We “bet” upon the outcomes of our decisions, even decisions wherein we decide to do nothing rather than something. Sometimes we get the outcomes we want and sometimes we don’t.

One indisputable fact that’s come from this tragic episode is that “the government infrastructure,” upon which so many trust and depend for their very lives, failed in certain important categories. The government’s levee system failed catastrophically, flooding New Orleans. Many reasons can be cited and blame can be directed here or there, but no one can deny the government’s levee broke or that its breaking was a very, very bad thing.

During emergencies many people look to government infrastructure to provide a “safety net” for those in immediate peril; those without water, food, shelter and/or security from aggressive violence. Many observed the level of trust they’d placed in government’s infrastructure was definitely not justified. No one should fail to note the countless episodes of personal bravery by individuals that were highlights of recovery efforts, but the system overall did not work as well as many people “bet their lives” it would work.

There’s yet another government infrastructure failure that must be noted and considered, one that has the potential to be the most damaging of all, the quality of our citizenship. While many were saving lives, providing food and water or even fleeing for their lives, others were looting televisions, electronics and other non-essentials, raping former neighbors now considered prey, shooting at and trying to harm rescue workers who were valiantly attempting to save lives.

Why do I site this as a failure of government’s infrastructure? In many ways, government agents, from politicians to bureaucrats, have tried to define citizenship for the rest of us. They’ve defined “our entitlements” and have been actively creating a citizenry much more concerned with “getting its share” of the pie than in making the pie bigger. Personal nobility, pride and the classic American “can do” attitude have been gradually traded for partisanship, competition, jealousy and an “I’ve got mine, to hell with you” attitude. That type of “citizenship” can be hidden fairly well in flush times, but when natural and man-made calamities descend upon us, its deadly reality is revealed.

You’d better hope that people who wish us harm around the world aren’t able to mount a serious attack here, for not only could there be widespread physical destruction, the weak “levees” of American citizenship are also sure to break. You’ll then learn, if you live, the weakness of the most fundamental “government infrastructure.”

©2005 by Richard A. Cheatham. All rights reserved. Mr.Cheatham is a professional speaker/writer and is syndicated through Press Media Group, LLC. Contact him through, Living History Assoc., Ltd., at www.LHALtd.com or DrawBackVeil@aol.com.