thoughts on recent events.

[kippurbird]

I was listening to NPR on my way into work today and they had a piece about President Bush, John McCain and Obama visiting places in Iowa where the Mississippi flooded places.

They had a soundbite from McCain where he said "Our hearts and our prayers go out to the victims..." This is a very standard sort of thing that I hear people say all the time in regards to tragedies.

The thing, I suddenly thought, "Well that's all good and fine but exactly how are prayers going to help the people?"

It reminds me of this story-parable thing:

A man had fallen into the ocean turning a terrible storm. He began to pray for God to save him. Eventually a boat shows up and the crew say, "Here come aboard, let us help you." The man refused, saying, "No, God would save him". Eventually, the man drowned. He goes to heaven and he says to God "Why didn't you save me?"

God answers, "I sent you the boat."

I guess I'm thinking that prayers and things are all very good, but action would be better.

Comments

[karaotter.livejournal.com]

I saw some footage of Bush visiting places and it made me think that if I were president (or some other sort of big government person) I'd actually roll up my sleeves and get in there and help instead of just hanging out there because I should. Odds are that there's some sort of rule preventing that type of action due to national security issues or whatever, but somebody somewhere has to say "screw it, I'm going to get in there and help".

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I imagine that having the President roll up his sleeves and help would be more of a hindrance than a help. By the time the area is up to Secret Service standards for letting the President wander around, I expect any real work has ground to a halt.

Certainly whenever the President or the VP (any President or VP, not just the current occpants) come to Portland (aka "Little Beirut" in the words of a previous President), they cause untold trouble for commuters, since the highways must be cleared for Their Royal Majesties to travel unimpeded by the lowly citizens. And downtown streets are barricaded lest someone unsavory get within blocks of the hotel where they're staying/speaking....

[alexseanchai]

I saw a picture of Obama helping fill sandbags.

And, yeah, "I sent you the boat" is very much in the line of what I imagine a caring God would tell Madeline Neumann's parents. If they'd done a little less praying for God to magically heal her and a little more driving her to the emergency room, she'd be alive.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Odds are that there's some sort of rule preventing that type of action due to national security issues or whatever, but somebody somewhere has to say "screw it, I'm going to get in there and help".

That reminds me of Star Trek when the captains were always like that.

[brainchild129.livejournal.com]

As a current resident of Iowa City, my thoughts on Bush's recent visit are best summed up in a hearty FUCK YOU BUSH. We're not idiots. We watched all the news coverage of you and your cronies fucking things up in the south post-Katrina. He didn't give a flying fuck about them, and we know that he doesn't really give a flying fuck about us either, since most of us will never be rich enough to benefit him or his associates. He certainly didn't care enough to come out at the height of the flood, when the concern might have been taken a little more seriously. But no, it's just another photo opportunity for him, complete with people with little flags in their hands.

It's the same for Obama and McCain, although Obama is hopefully taking this very seriously, as many of his homestate constituents are suffering or will soon be suffering from this same flood.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

He certainly didn't care enough to come out at the height of the flood, when the concern might have been taken a little more seriously.

Yeah, I wondered about that.

[ladyphoenixia.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's not from the bible, but I was always taught the old phrase is something along the lines of "God helps those who help themselves."

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

Nope, not in the Bible. (http://www.gotquestions.org/God-help-themselves.html)

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

The victims would probably be better off if the politicians kept their disruptive presences away and just sent money for the relief efforts. But then they couldn't photo op. *sigh*

[jacedraccus.livejournal.com]

They could photo op standing in front of a giant cheque?

But then people would think they'd won something.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Money, or supplies or something useful.

[subieko.livejournal.com]

Well, I've always seen it as, you pray AND you act. So, you do the best that you personally can do, and you also pray, because naturally you alone can only do so much. Just one or the other seems silly to me.

Also, I've always seen the 'our hearts and our prayers' line as being from someone who's a fair distance away from the problem. That is, they're too remote to help out, but they still do care about it.

[christinaathena.livejournal.com]

Sure, but sending some money or donating stuff would probably help more ...

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

I like that story.

My other favorite (same concept) is this: A man is drinking in a bar and gets into a conversation with this other man, and for some reason they start talking about religion. "I used to believe in God," the second man said, "until I got lost out in the Tundra."

"What happened?" asked the first man.

"I'd gotten seperated from my group, and was lost, and in danger of freezing to death if help didn't come soon. I prayed to God to save me, but he didn't."

"What happened?"

The man snorted derisively, "Nothing. An eskimo got me out."

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That is very similar. Strangely, though, a lot of people don't seem to get it.