Natural Looting

by David Thompson

Horrific is the word that comes to mind as I attempt to comprehend the devastation of Katrina. The horror ranges from the massive destruction of life and property to the suffering of survivors living in conditions I wouldn’t allow my enemies dog to live in to the shock of seeing looters adding to the loss of those who have lost everything.

The looters in particular seem the most difficult to understand. We wonder how anyone could do what they have done amidst such misery. We understand desperate people taking food to survive, but DVD players? Where will they plug them in?

Yet there is a simple answer to explain how people could do such a thing. The looters are people, human beings, made in the image of God, who have been formed into the kind of people who naturally see, in the face of widespread death and destruction, an opportunity to profit materially by stealing from others. It’s a sobering thought that we all are being formed into someone – a someone who reflects an other worldly love and self-sacrifice or a someone who finds life in the self consuming worship of the fleshly appetites.

Comments

[Patrick]

This is only slightly related, but I think that rapper Kanye West had some good things to say about the looting. "I hate the way they portray us (black people) in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food." I don't think he is saying that stealing is okay. I think he is just saying that survival is okay. Maybe the delay in assistance pushed people to think that help wasn't coming. I agree that taking DVD players is kind of stupid. But when you have nothing to bargain with, DVD players are worth a lot of money. We may trust God to provide for us, but people that don't have God are acting exactly as they should.

You can read more about what he said here http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N03574702.htm

[DT]

Patrick - I agree with you - "people ... are acting as they should." Unfortunately I'm not sure God is the difference maker for some people. Consider a different scenario: Christians at a party in an affluent suberb suggest that those who stayed in New Orleans have no right to complain - they were told to evacuate. What kind of formation is taking place in a person who identifies with Christ and yet appears to lack compassion or an understanding that there are people in this country without cars and credit cards?

[Kendal]

DT,

I was forced to come to the same conclusions when thinking about these horrific acts. I kept asking how anyone could act like this, "they must not be human," I thought. But it dawned on me that these people are human, and this is all the explanation that I need. The majority of the people looting for profit are past the point of caring in their life and have given themseleves over to sin.

Patrick, as far as Kanye West comments, he also said that Bush hated black people. So I wouldn't put too much stock in what he says.

[Patrick]

Kendal,
I think that his comment about Bush was just to draw attention. Maybe to himself, maybe to the situation and the fact that so little was done right away.

But to be honest (this is definitely a confession, not a proclomation), I probably am not any better than Bush in that regard. I did not give a crap about the people in New Orleans before the hurricane. To be perfectly honest, I never have cared much about people that don't look like me. Or people that don't have something to give me. I think West's comments on Bush struck a deeper chor with me. He wasn't just calling Bush out, he was calling all of us (conservative white protestants) out. Honestly, if I really look deep into my heart, I think I am better than the people who are looting in New Orleans because my sins, as Derek Webb puts it are "easier to hide."

[Kendal]

Patrick,

Right on bro, I hear you on much of that sentiment. But there seems to be two reactions that seem to come from people during a tragedy like this. One is to realize that we live in an imperfect world with fallen people; we are not in control. Hopefully this leads us to worship the One who is. The other is to start throwing blame around and try and account for things. The latter is simply not attractive.

[Patrick]

Agreed.

[Lane]

Interesting thread. It's an awfully sobering thought to realize, in the midst of your disgust at the looters' behavior, that our collective indifference to their day-to-day difficulties has helped form their worldview. When rich America would rather spend money on their high-end home entertainment system than help feed the hungry poor, is it any wonder that when the opportunity presents itself they go after that same DVD player?

Obviously, that does not excuse looting, and I also think class- or race-guilt is the wrong response and a rather pointless exercise to boot. But this is an opportunity to examine our own priorities and our stewardship of His blessings. After all, his blessings are also a test- to whom much has been given, much is expected, right?