I was thinking some more, lying there trying to meditate after I woke an hour ago, about the situation from the last entry. 

One thing that came to mind was one winter when I was living in Texas.  The winter was a tough one up north, power outtages, people in NY and Illinois without lights and heat for a considerable while.

That winter came at a time following a summer when there'd been a body of opinion in the north that showed little sympathy for some hard times happening in Texas.  Whatever it was that caused the Texas problems happened to work to the advantage of northern interests. 

Now, when all this happened, the northerner needs would require some sacrifices for Texans and higher fuel and heating costs in Texas.  That winter all over Texas, cars suddenly had bumper-stickers, "LET THEM FREEZE IN THE DARK".

As a nation we've always been on shaky ground when it came to regionalism and personal interests as opposed to national interests, or sometimes even lacking compassion, uncomfortably near gladness  for the hardships of others elsewhere when they worked to our personal or regional advantage.. 

I think the New World Order mentality has had some positive fruits in that regard, along with the fact what the US has been a fruit-basket-turnover game for the last 50 years, as our industry and manufacturing dried up and went overseas and Americans had to move to other regions to find any kind of work.

But the veneer of civilization probably isn't a lot thicker than a "LET THEM FREEZE IN THE DARK" bumper-sticker.  Americans and the entire Western world probably aren't further than three missed meals and an empty gas-tank away from savagery when the going gets tough.

Say, as has happened among the looters in New Orleans.

Jack