Storm Warnings

I have been reading some blogs that have left me dumbfounded. I didn't think we needed a how-to behave blog guide for times like this, but I was wrong. So:

Ten Things to Guide Bloggers During the Aftermath of a Disaster

1. Making a five-dollar donation to the Red Cross is wonderful, thank you. Every little bit helps. Alas, it does not make you Acting President of the United States.

2. Natural disasters do not take race into consideration when they occur. They kill you no matter what your skin color is.

3. Try to be kind. I know it's hard, we're all angry and outraged, but try.

4. If you've never been through a major hurricane, don't tell people what they should have done during theirs.

5. Might want to avoid gushing about the great time you had at the Maui Writer's Conference. While you were nattering on with that Big Important Author in the Tiki Bar, a whole hell of a lot of people were dying in many horrible ways.

6. Might want to avoid bitching about the lousy time you had at the Maui Writer's Conference. While you were being snubbed by that Big Important Author in the Tiki Bar, those same people were still dying horribly.

7. Saying Katrina is none of your affair and then speculating on how hard this disaster is going to affect your personal income makes you sound like Ebeneezer Scrooge. Do yourself a huge favor: Shut up.

8. Don't say there is nothing you can do. You can still pray, or donate blood, or offer sympathy, or post donation links, or write letters to your government representatives. There are a thousand things you can do.

9. Saying anything along the lines of "Those people in New Orleans deserve what happened to them" makes us want to throttle you. Judge not, okay?

10. If you didn't get hit by the hurricane, aren't homeless, aren't financially wiped out, etc., then consider this: maybe for once it's not all about you.