The recent disaster in the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has revealed the good, the bad, and the shameful in people. As in the phenomenon preceding a tsunami, the "waters have pulled back" and the hearts underneath have, for good or ill, been exposed.

While there are tens of thousands of examples of the "good" that has been exposed, one incident comes to mind. In New Orleans, a hospital was evacuated - mostly. Some patients too ill to be moved were left behind with the medical personnel who volunteered to stay with them. Of course the carnage was much worse than expected and the hospital lost fresh water, access to escape, and electrical power. Accounts have emerged of hospital workers staying awake all night to fan the patients with pieces of cardboard in the oppressive humidity and 107-degree temperatures. Others manually fed oxygen to critically ill patients by hand for hours on end. If these medical people were soldiers in a combat zone, they would be given medals for valor. Then there are the hundreds of citizens - some with official agencies, some not - who by boat and helicopter have plucked over ten thousand victims from rooftops and raging waters, sometimes at great risk to their own lives.

On the other hand, there were the bad.� Hundreds of people, who probably considered themselves good citizens, became criminals when the opportunity afforded itself. It's one thing to be hungry and steal food for the survival of one's family. It's quite another�to cart television sets and other electronic equipment