The United States is a developing country ...

I left for a trip to South Africa very early Saturday, 3 Sept. As I walked on the tarmac at JFK to board a regional flight I remarked to a fellow traveller how I was reminded of the early days of air travel. He replied, "yes, it's like being in a developing country." Suddenly, the early hour (just sunrise), the relative quiet of the airport (JFK without crowds), the recent news from New Orleans about US citizens being called "refugees", and the seeming inability of government institutions to get mobilized to help filled my mind. I was struck by the feeling that this might be a small taste of what life is like in developing countries, where people are displaced by natural disasters, and where governments appear to be ineffective. Guess what. That's my country too.

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