Man, what's going on right now on the Gulf Coast (New Orleans, in particular) is such a tragedy.  My heart goes out to those in the midst of all this, and I have been praying for those affected, that they might attain peace in the midst of despair.  I also hope this event will stir within people all over the world a desire to investigate and challenge their beliefs on the meaning and purpose of life, so that they might discover the Truth. 

I really had no idea that a hurricane could cause this much chaos, especially in an "industrialized" nation.  I think it is very interesting, however, that the risk of such a disaster in New Orleans had been studied and documented at length, and yet, the government, both at a local and national level, seems so ill-prepared for something we knew was imminent. 

Check out this post I came across (via Ethan Zuckerman) that links to a National Geographic article from October, 2004, that eerily describes a scene very similar to what we have today. 

I agree with many of the points made by the author of the post.  I hope that if any good comes of this situation (on a political level, anyway) that it will allow us to refocus our energies on building into our own nation, and really challenge us to solve the some of the difficult problems our own country faces before we try to "fix" the rest of the world.