we want the good times, not the money

There is a distinctly Catholic aspect which contributes to the character of the New Orleans citizenry. A judgmentalism founded in the ethos of a uniquely personal responsibility to God and self prevails in most of the U.S., the result of a Protestantism in which each individual's relationship to God is self-determined. Inevitably this has produced a society of individuals who each consider themselves exalted to one degree or another, informed only by their own notions of themselves and encouraged by the world's reward system to think that advancement of their own material interests is not only their loftiest goal but also their ethical responsibility. New Orleans, however, is different, in that (among many other things) its people seem not to care so much for personal advancement as they do for enriching experiences. Experiences, though, by definition, are contingent, and this to me may be key to understanding what makes us different. There is a strong component of contingency in the Catholic faith : salvation is temporary and redeemable in that we acknowledge our failings through confession, so the "what's here today may be gone tomorrow so why bother" ethic seems to me to be ingrained in how we think about ourselves. A result of understanding and accepting our failings (instead of denying them or correcting them) is that we as a community are more indulgent of others' failings, and indeed more accepting of material circumstances which would be deemed unacceptable anywhere else in the U.S. So maybe almost 300 years of the principles of sacramental confession have helped shape our community personality to produce the laissez-faire ethos which still defines us.