If I Am Only For Myself

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?"

A fairly well-known quote from Rabbi Hillel highlights our own responsibility for caring for ourselves, and each other, and the urgency with which we must act. In every way, this quote captures the essence of “good neighborliness.”

However, I find myself considering these questions from a slightly different perspective. I recently returned from a company trip to New Orleans, where we had the privilege of rebuilding houses with an organization called the St. Bernard Project, named for the parish (akin to a county) immediately adjacent to the city of New Orleans. For many Americans, Hurricane Katrina and its devastating aftermath were little more than pictures on a television screen, posts on a Facebook page, or fodder for talk radio. The reality of what happened here has sadly been missed, misrepresented, or misconstrued. So here are a few facts:

• The population was 67,000 and the Parish had 27,000 homes and 14,000 businesses
• Unemployment rate was 4%
• Home ownership rate was greater than 70%
• Median family income was $36K
• Many residents worked as fishermen, in the trades, and at refineries
• Nine in ten residents of the Parish were white

After Katrina, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of those homes were rendered unlivable. EVERY SINGLE HOME WAS DESTROYED. For those who left prior to the storm, there was simply nothing to come back to. All of their possessions were destroyed, their homes, their jobs – all gone.

It might be hard for people who have no experience with hurricanes to understand the mindset of the people who lived in New Orleans. Many people stayed as Katrina approached; this was a hurricane, like many others before, and nothing more. What happened to these people happened AFTER the hurricane hit – the failure of the levee system, far from a “natural disaster,” is what did the most damage in New Orleans. I won’t spend any time here debating who or what should be blamed for what happened, but the immutable fact is that thousands of our neighbors were left homeless and destitute by Hurricane Katrina – and five years later, many still are.

Which brings me back to Hillel. After my experience in New Orleans, I found myself asking a slightly different set of questions: If someone cannot be for themselves, who will be for them? And after so long, why still is no one there for them? And what or where am I?

The St. Bernard Project is just one of many organizations that exist to help us help others. I urge you to learn more about them; not because they are any better or worse than any of the other organizations out there, but because it is the one I now know, and admire. As we turn the corner on 2010, let each of us resolve to make 2011 the answer to Hillel’s final question: If not now, WHEN?