We hear quite about about how, over two years on, New Orleans is still a mess, with much of the city being left to rot . Some call it racism, as these areas are mostly black. But I’m not so sure about that. For example, take a look at this:

Close to 10,000 families lost their homes. Irrespective of the family size, each family was given a one-room shelter measuring about 150 to 200 sq feet. These shelters are made up of tin sheets.  They get monthly rations, but no cash handouts. They complain of official apathy. They were promised they would only be homeless for a maximum of 18 months [yet are still living in temporary shelters].

Sounds pretty crappy, right? This thing is, this quote is in reference to the 2004 tsunami victims, and was written today.

As New Orleans has re-opened their French Quarter, the Andaman and Nicobar islands have rebuilt their military bases. But the poor farmers? They are still living in temporary tin shacks, and face the fact that half of the land mass of the islands was wiped off the face of the earth.

Now I realize that some things take time, but year after year these places make little progress. Heck, what was your life like three years ago compared to now? Probably quite different, no matter how “boring” you are. If there isn’t a theory on this already, I’ll create it and call it Ron’s Rule: The amount of effective change possible is inversely proportional to the number of people involved. The more people involved, the less likely you’ll see change.