Playing host

Not myself, but Houston. Houston has opened her arms to the refugees of New Orleans, and upwards of 20,000 of them will be my neighbors down the street in a matter of days, with the first arriving likely within hours.

Houston's Medical center has also taken onm a number of patients from New Orleans who were flown in as weather permitted, as I understand it.

Houston, it would seem has extended a real hand to our neighbors to the east.

This is, undoubtedly, the right thing to do. There are a lot of people out there who have nothing, and the least we can do is give them some space in a similar clime to lay their weary and worried heads. In Houston, they will find a largely accommodating city capable of taking on the numbers well. We will be able to take them from a place without food, water, power or infrastructure to a place which can provide all of the above. We can provide them with earthly salvation. We can do it. We should do it. We must do it.

At the same time, especially in light of my personal proximity to the astrodome, I am very cognizant of the fact that along with a lot of good people in devastating times, there will be some bad elements coming as well. This is no small matter. People in such a position where they are removed from the familiar, often will adapt, even temporarily, traits and behaviors they would not normally assume. This is culture shock, and there is no getting around it. So, otherwise well-behaved people, having lost everything, and now in a strange city, may become somewhat less well-behaved. Also, some of the less desireable elements of Houston, also in close proximity to my domicile, may see easy targets. This leads me to be concerned aboput the liklihood of an increase in crime in the immediate area.

I am not against taking in the former residents of New Orleans. In fact, I insist that we are morally obligated to offer aid and succor at this time. We are all Americans, and we are all in this thing together. We absolutely must help, even knowing that we will be rewarded with an increase in crime, and a drain on our resources. The hospitals in the area are already feeling the strain of the added populace that came here before Katrina, and we are going to feel it even more not just directly in the form of tens of thousands of displaced Americans relocating here, but also indirectly in the aid which will be siphoned off into Louisiana to bring aid to the afflicted there.

I have this strange and perhaps unfounded belief that whatever problems arise, we will be able to work our way past them; that when this is all said and done, Houston, America, and Americans as a whole will be better for having done it. And before you call me a Pollyana, remember that I extend my support with a gun on my hip.

So, to the former citizens of New Orleans, I offer a hearty 'welcome aboard!' in friendship and American spirit.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia