What utter crap. Give Americans more credit. First of all, we've had massive incidents - flooding in the midwest, fires in the west, yes, even Katrina, and - the smallest event worth mentioning - 9/11. Yes, there were some problems in New Orleans - but you know what? There wasn't as much looting and violence as reported. A lot of it was spooked white guys who never set foot out of their small towns into an urban situation imagining "sniper fire" from afar. Was there violence? Absolutely. Was it widespread and ongoing? Not at all.

In California, in the earthquake that took out the Bay Bridge and devastated so much of the area, was it utter chaos and violence? No.

We are a rich nation. We are a rich people. The poorest of us on this forum are kings compared to most people on this planet. We have water, we have food, we have shelter. We have, however you feel about it, a government that mostly works. We have access to physical and logistical resources that are mostly effective.

I'm sick and tired of people thinking that America is on the brink of chaos all the time. We gripe and moan and whine and wheedle about one political football or another, but you know what? My electric is on, my phones work, my food is fairly safe, I drive on roads that are mostly in good shape, I can call 911 and cops or firefighters or an ambulance will come.

In big emergencies, our wealth is our biggest asset. Not money wealth (but that helps) but the wealth of social networks, the wealth of education, the wealth of material goods we own and can use or share to solve problems.

As a government appointed Emergency Management Coordinator, one of my tasks was to create a directory of key local resources that we might need to use in a major emergency. Stuff like backhoes, portable toilets, fuel supplies, water treatment. My problem isn't finding these resources - it's picking which ones to use. When I put out the word that I needed to make a list of things we might need in an emergency, I was quickly overwhelmed by offers to help, offers of access to stockpiles (the local lumber yard said "Consider our entire inventory as well as our staff and equipment as on your list and available on 15 minutes notice".

We are not Haiti. We are not poor. We are still the strongest nation in the world, and while we may have fallen behind my friends in Europe and Asia in many areas, when it comes to domestic disaster response, we are still a nation that knows what to do in emergencies. We can (and do) mock the folks who go up Mt. Hood in a t-shirt, and we can (and do) ponder why someone would not carry a flashlight at all times, but I don't think we really ponder what it means to only have the money for a little food, and no more. No flashlights. No coats. No tents. They have nothing.

Final pontification and I'll step down.

I know a woman, her kids and mine play together some times. She has, in the past, gone to Haiti to do some work in an orphanage. One of the trips down (she has made several) she brought several large cardboard boxes of clothing. Upon arrival. when she opened the box, fights among the children broke out. Not over the clothing. Over the cardboard from the boxes. Because the cardboard made a better sleeping pad for the kids - who were sleeping on the ground. Imagine - struggling over cardboard so you don't have to sleep on the dirt. It's not like here. It's so unlike here you can't even imagine.