OK, so the Corps of Engineers had two choices. It could leave thousands of acres of farmland and dozens of towns dry and let Baton Rouge and New Orleans be inundated by the surging flood waters of the Mississippi River. Or it could open spillways along the river to leave Baton Rouge and New Orleans high and dry, thus inundating the farm lands and towns north of those big cities.
The Corps chose to save the larger populated cities of Baton Rouge and New Orleans by opening the spillways, thus sacrificing the farmers and townspeople. I’m sure it was a hard and heart-wrenching choice to make and I can understand, that with the numbers of people in harm’s way, why they chose to save the two cities.
Now that the spillways have been opened, no one knows for certain how many acres and towns will be flooded or if there will be no flooding in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
If Baton Rouge and New Orleans end up being spared from any major flooding, the people of those cities will owe an enormous debt to the people upstream who were sacrificed in their behalf. What will the people of Baton Rouge and New Orleans do to repay the people whose farms and towns were flooded? What will the two cities do to repay them?
I predict that the people and city officials of Baton Rouge and New Orleans will proclaim their everlasting gratitude to those who lost everything in their behalf, but that’s all they will do. Oh, the churches will have some clothing and food drives and some people will make $10 and $25 donations, but they won’t make any real sacrifices themselves to help set things right. They will expect the federal government to help those poor folks upstream.
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