Katrina's legacy

Many of us have lost jobs, watched the ceiling cave in, crashed our cars, and/or waded through flood waters. Life has a way of reminding us that it is all too precarious. Yet nothing can prepare us for a natural disaster, its ruthless brutality that by definition spares no one, not the wealthy or the powerful.

Early today the first consignments of aid left the UK for the flood-ravaged regions of the United States. On the weekend the first of the Britons trapped in New Orleans returned home with tales of pillage, rape and murder. I wonder how long it will take before we hear tales of heroism and self-sacrifice. Surely society, or civilization for that matter, is not that precarious.