EDITORIAL COMPASSION FATIGUE.

AFTER the devastation Hurricane Katrina wreaked on the Gulf Coast last month, Americans of all income levels reached out and helped in any way they could. They donated food, clothes, blood and money. They went to fundraisers for flood victims. Even children did what they could, selling lemonade to make money to donate to charity.

Now that another hurricane has trashed much of the Gulf Coast, no doubt there's some compassion fatigue among the generous. But there are still plenty of people in need of the aid of their countrymen and -women.

The reality is that there will always be another disaster. The givers this time could be the ones in need next time. It's just part of the deal of living in a civil society. We help each other out, inasmuch as we can without doing harm to our own. In the face of fatigue, we need vigilance.