Ali, what wonderful words of wisdom. My siblings and I do not understand our Aunt's sending out those "send money to rescue the animals" emails she sent after the hurricane as well as the tsunami. My sister, a single woman, was concerned with women's rights and safety. My brother, an adoptive-hopeful married man was concerned with the orphaned children, and I, of course, was concerned for the babies who would be formula-feeding unsafely. And it was the unsafe formula-feeding that I finally centered on for my column. Thank you all for your support, suggestions and ideas. Nothing like a mental block, but an angry mental block? Hard to get around without friends. Thank you. If you want to see it, contact me at [log in to unmask] . Probably too long for the list! Best wishes, Heather "Sam" Doak from sunny Marietta Ohio In times of crisis, we reach for the familiar. With a disaster this large, people often need to approach it from a specific angle, because it's utterly impossible to get one's arms around the entire scope of things. Piece by piece, we all tackle it, and we rely on our own areas of expertise to guide us through something that is terrifying and consuming. We do what we know, because it is all we know how to do until some semblance of normalcy is attained, and because we feel helpless if we do nothing. The breastfeeding community's centrical response is not unique in the wake of Katrina. Those concerned with animal welfare are strategizing ways to save the pets left behind by evacuating owners. Those concerned with elder care reform are raging about the people who drowned in nursing homes waiting for rescuers who never came - and so on, on it goes. We do what we know, because it is all we know how to do. And it is far better than doing nothing. Ali Crehan Feeney Quincy, MA breastfeeding counselor http://lactiferous.blogspot.com *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html