Reason No. 744 Why America is Great

New Orleans is underwater and Hurricane Katrina is shaping up to be one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. However, despite all the damage that has been inflicted on Louisiana and neighboring states, the United States will soon recover thanks in no small part to the outpouring of international relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. . .

STOP RIGHT THERE. That's a story you will NEVER see. When is the last time you heard about other nations' efforts to help ordinary Americans in need? Saudi Arabia's offer to ship a few more barrels of crude when gas prices go through the roof doesn't count in my book. However it's easy to find examples where America has come to the aid of other countries. The United States has donated three quarters of a billion -- that's billion people -- dollars to the Indian Ocean tsunami relief effort, helped save the lives of Russian seamen trapped in a submarine on the bottom of the ocean, heck we even sent emergency relief as well as privately donated aid to Iran when Bam, former site of the worlds largest adobe structure in the world, was decimated by an earthquake in 2003. And those examples are just off the top of my head.

I would be happy to see some reports of foreign government offering assistance. I doubt very much I'll see those stories though and that's just fine. It's a reminder of why America is a great country. As a nation, we are probably the most generous nation on earth, generous to a fault (I repeat -- we sent humaniatrian aid to Iran whose reactivated nuclear program is solely directed at intimidating the West). America will take care of its own and still provide relief to people around the world. New Orleans will recover, life will go on, no thanks to anyone else. Maybe one day other nations will come to fully appreciate how much they depend on the U.S. for their security and well being. I wonder how long it will take other countries to feel the pinch when the Port of New Orleans is shut down for an extended period of time and trade is disrupted?