Post-hurricane compassion...

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (and Rita?), we are left with more questions than answers. Our hearts are moved and go out to the victims of this natural disaster.

How can we rebuild? What lessons can we learn? What steps can we take? At TownHall.com, columnist Marvin Olasky offers these suggestions to political leaders who want to offer long-term, post-Katrina help in a compassionate conservative way:

1. Listen to and learn from the real poverty experts, those who have fought their way out of it.
2. Tweak tax rules to make it financially possible for that black single mom, as well as middle-class individuals, to help evacuees for a year or even more.
3. Do not discriminate in any way against groups that see the importance of offering spiritual as well as material help.
4. Provide student evacuees with vouchers so they can attend any schools in their new communities, whether governmental, private or church-based.
5. Create the "Gulf Opportunity Zone" (encompassing the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama disaster area) that President Bush has called for, and within it provide tax relief for small businesses as well as other spurs to entrepreneurship.
6. Honor compassionate "first responders" by telling the story of not only what went wrong, but what went right.
7. Thank God for His mercy. With everything that can go wrong in the world, with hurricanes each year filling most of the letters of the alphabet, it's worth noting that only a few become infamous. Why should we assume good weather and good health? Why not be thankful for days of clear skies or gentle rains?

Read the entire article HERE.