What makes us want to help others?

Today I heard news of the damage to New Orleans. The hurrican just ran right through the city. It took no prisoners. The hurricane did not have compassion on anyone. Some folks may ask, "How could God let this happen?" If you ask me, I have no clue. We all asked the same question on September 11th, 2001.
I hate to think of people stranded in the streets, captured beneath the water, crying out for help. The news is not good. New Orlean's is slowly filling up with water. I remember when the Eastern part of North Carolina filled up with water. Our church went to help relieve them. But it took two years for anything significant to even change within Eastern North Carolina. And New Orleans is a city, filled with people, and filled with homeless folks who live near the water for survival.
It makes me realize how blessed I am to have a home, to have running water, and to have a roof over my head. Moments like this, moments of national tragedy, often bring people together. It is my prayer that people do flood the city of New Orleans with waves of compassion. The only way that these people will make it is if we help them.
Please pray for these people, pray for all others in the Bayou area, and pray that we all can learn to be reconciled through this type of horrific tragedy. Maybe I am the only person, but I think that this country is slowly healing from the wounds of September 11th. I feel like I am starting to see people realeasing this event. It was a catastophic event, and yet, the further I get from it, the less and less it presses upon me. We have all continued our lives. Now, Londoners may have a different opinion .They are still reeling from the bombings. I feel for them. Pray for London for sure. But as I think back on all of these other events, I think that this event will also slide into the ether. How is that? Are we to let this happen? Is there any permanence to this world that we live in? I hope so. I think there is. But do you?
There is a guy who wrote a book entitled "Liqued Modernity." His postulates that our culture swims in the sea of liquidity. There is nothing that stands as TRUE, RIGHT, and GOOD.
This type of tragedy somehow reminds us that there is something of value to our world. It is often these types of tragedies that point us in the right direction. They remind us that this world is valuable, and that community, more than anything, is a value that we can stand upon. As we walk through lives that are desperately cut off from other people, I pray that this tragedy can remind us that we are within a web of people, communities, and geographies, that will not let us cuddle up into our own little cave. Death to individualism and the constant attempt to better ourselves. There is no value within this mode of living. When the stock exchange becomes the most important indicator of our society, we know there is a problem.
And not only that, at the same time that we become more full of money, and full of ourselves, the divorce rate increases along side of this.
Do not believe what you hear.
There is only one way to live, and that is through helping your brothers and sisters.
New Orleans will tell you that every day of this week.
If you do not believe it, go down to the french quarter.
May this be a turning point in realizing our dependence upon each other.
In the peace and reconciliation of Christ
Peter