Apparently we need to look up the term "refugee"

People just can't see the big picture. There are a thousand things that could be complained about and talked about in this whole Hurricane Katrina situation, but still we have to discuss the term "refugee".

Apparently all of the folks who had to evacuate their homes are now never to be referred to as refugees even though they are seeking refuge. That being said, one would expect the term refugee to work in this case since they are seeking refuge, but that also isn't the case according to dictionary.com.

A refugee is "one who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution."

However, the definition of refuge is "protection or shelter, as from danger or hardship."

So what we are hearing about on a daily basis is a complete and total misunderstanding. The people in the Gulf Coast are seeking refuge so reporters began referring to them as refugees. However, someone did bother to look the term up and it turns out that refugee isn't quite the proper term.

Now we have Rev. Jesse Jackson and others pulling a race card up about this and it's just ignorant. Let it go people. Everyone is going nuts on this issue and it's silly. It's not a race issue, it's a vocabulary issue.

If you want to split hairs, if you look up the term evacuate, one of the definitions is "To excrete waste matter from the body."

So think about this. If Webster or whoever wrote the dictionary had stuck a little number 2 under the first definition of "refugee" it would probably say this:

2) A person seeking shelter or protection from danger.

And we wouldn't be having this conversation.