Laid-back town needs an attitude adjustment

Monday, February 20, 2006

The Rev. Anthony McGinn, S.J.
For decades New Orleans has suffered from attitudes that have contributed to
the malaise that has kept it from prospering. After Katrina, New Orleans
needs to rebuild its homes, businesses, schools, hospitals and other
institutions. But we also need a new way of thinking, an attitude
adjustment, for a rebuilt New Orleans.

I told our reunited student body on the first day back at Jesuit High School
that each of them had a special calling to contribute to rebuilding our
great city. All New Orleanians are called upon to change. A great event such
as this hurricane should not leave us unchanged, especially in our
attitudes. We can never solve our problems with the same level of thinking
that got us here in the first place.

We need to change four fundamentally flawed attitudes that have permeated
our city for generations. For too long we have been a city of lethargy,
parochialism, self-indulgence and self-pity. Every neighborhood, every
economic and social class, and every subculture in New Orleans share these
self-destructive attitudes.

Much of the charm of the city is attributable to its laid-back demeanor, the
sense of pride in our uniqueness, the good times we show our visitors and
our fascination with our past. Our problem is that reliance on charm can get
us only so far. The unfortunate downside of this quality is a spirit of
lethargy that permeates New Orleans culture. All segments of New Orleans
suffer from a lack of achievement motivation and an exaggerated sense of
entitlement.

For years we have decried the brain drain to other cities of the South. Even
more significant is the "hustle drain," the loss of talented and
highly motivated young people. We have lost not only their intelligence but
also their ambition and eagerness to make changes.

The downside of the pride in our unique city is our parochialism. For too
long the charm of our culture has blinded us to the need to look outside of
our city to see how and why other cities are successful. Our smug sense of
superiority over bland Houston, for example, has not gotten us very far. In
fact, it has impeded our progress. New Orleans can only be enhanced when its
young people return after experiencing other places.

The current situation also challenges us in the area of self-indulgence.
Many tourists come to New Orleans for our food and drink, but too much food
and drink make us lethargic and unmotivated. We need self-discipline to
emerge from this devastation. The same addiction to comfort that makes us
resist needed changes also keeps us uninvolved, passive and content with
mediocrity.

Our fascination with the good times and our laissez faire attitudes,
especially at Mardi Gras, have led to an epidemic of underage drinking that
will surely have grave consequences. Finally, we have a long history of
self-pity in this city. Before the Civil War New Orleans was the nation's
sixth-largest city. But we have declined ever since we started feeling sorry
for ourselves when the city surrendered
to Admiral Farragut and his federal troops in 1862. Blaming others and
refusing to take responsibility for our development led
to our being surpassed, first by Dallas, Houston and Atlanta, and then by
Birmingham, Austin and Memphis. How long will it take us to fall behind
Gainesville, Pascagoula and Macon?

Self-pity destroys confidence and ambition. The rebuilding of New Orleans
demands that we have a realistically optimistic attitude and confidence in
our ability to restore the greatness of our city. Focusing on what was lost
makes it difficult for us to have the strength to rebuild.God has blessed
New Orleans. He has blessed us with the gifts we need to come back strong.
He has blessed us with the opportunity to make the changes that will restore
that greatness. Let us remove those attitudes that keep us helpless, focused
on the past and comfortably mediocre.Before we condemn our elected leaders
for their mistakes, let us look to ourselves, and change our thinking, our
passivity and our way of blaming.

The Rev. Anthony McGinn, S.J., is principal of Jesuit High School in New
Orleans.