One month after Hurricane Katrina, programs such as this are generating more questions than answers. The recovery efforts are creeping forward, the dead still being counted — and the national media have already shifted their focus.

In the first days of devastation, they asked why help was so slow in coming. Then help finally arrived, and the blame game began.

Now, the investigations have been launched, the president has taken responsibility, and the media have moved on to a new question: Are we prepared for "the next big one?"

It is something to consider – especially with Hurricane Rita’s power and two months left in the hurricane season.

Still, whether we are prepared for the worst is not the only question on my mind.

For me, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath have raised two other issues: How much should we rely on others to look out for us, and what should we really be afraid of?

Watching the tragedy unfold, we saw both extremes. We saw looters firing at police officers; we saw stubborn folks who refused to leave their homes. And we saw the desperation and despair of the people who put all their trust in a system that failed them.

Clearly, we were not prepared for a disaster of this scale. We should have done a better job of evacuating the poor, securing the city, treating the wounded. But as far as preventing the devastation in the first place, it is easy, in hindsight, to say that someone with the power to do something about it should have listened to the experts who warned that the levees would not withstand a major hurricane. But, like all of us, our leaders sometimes put their heads into the sand — or weigh the risks and decide to roll the dice.

We’ve all heard the experts warn that, in order for our families to survive a disaster, we’ll need at least one gallon of water a day (per person) for a week or more. But how many of us actually have 30 gallons of water and a stockpile of energy bars and dried fruit?

So I have to ask: Should we really expect more from our government than we do from ourselves?

As we work to learn from our mistakes and be better prepared, we must also keep our fears in perspective. The media seem to have an endless supply of things to fear, but which ones should we really worry about? We must find a balance between being prepared and being afraid; between calm readiness and high alert.

The TV program that prompted my mental inventory of disaster supplies examined whether our nation is ready for one of the "big three" doomsday scenarios — an avian flu pandemic, a nuclear attack or a major earthquake — and concluded that we are not.

The report warned that a bird flu pandemic "could hit as early as this winter." Yet it did not say how likely it is that this deadly virus will, in fact, mutate into a strain that could be transmitted from human to human.

The threat of a nuclear attack is still very real and very scary, and in today’s world, it’s also more complex than that of the Cold War era. But I have to wonder how seriously it is taken by the folks who remember diving under their desks during air raid drills.

The truth is, you can’t be prepared for everything, all the time, and not all disasters can be prevented. Yes, we should all have a disaster kit and an emergency plan.

But the fact remains: Around here, most of us are more likely to die in a car accident — probably close to home — than from a terrorist attack, natural disaster or infectious disease.

Learning from the mistakes we’ve made and planning for a more-secure future are worthy endeavors. But we can’t spend our lives second-guessing and stockpiling and worrying. If we did that, we’d miss out on the glorious present.

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Lisa Miller is a freelance writer who lives in Oneonta. She can be reached at lisamiller44@hotmail.com.