I am likely the most selfish person on the face of this Earth right now. I have had my head up my ass today, apparently. As I went about my work and my life, I heard bits and pieces of news about an Earthquake in Haiti. The reality of the situation stayed just outside of my radar, though. I was too busy to stop and look at what was really happening. I had absolutely no idea what the magnitude of devastation is in this country which is already impoverished beyond imagination.
Somewhere in my peripheral vision, I kept seeing TweetDeck notifications float by on my screen, filled with tweet after tweet where people were begging for donations, aid and prayers for Haitians. The more of these I saw, the angrier I became. I called my friend Mark Horvath. I was crying… tears of frustration and anger. I asked him how it is that people can rally their every dollar and thought for another country, when we have so many thousands here in our own backyard who need us. Poverty, starvation and homelessness abounds in the US. We are failing our own people, day after damn day. Mark suggested I speak out about this issue, and my strong feelings on the situation. However, he cautioned me to step back and outside of my emotions a little prior to writing.
Okay, he was right. I needed to step back, and gain a clear picture. I fired up my browser, and headed to MSNBC. From the very first picture, my heart was in my throat. I spent more than two hours on various news sites, reading everything I could find about the devastation. I watched videos and looked through slide-shows. I read stories about the thousands – and thousands – of people already confirmed dead, and the many thousands more still unaccounted for.
Hospitals cannot help the injured. The buildings were leveled. Medical workers are listed amongst the dead and injured. The people already in Haiti to help bring aid to the country are also counted among the missing, broken and deceased. There is no electricity, no water, no food. What few houses remain are structurally unsafe. People who were lucky enough to escape with their lives are huddling together in open fields, too afraid to enter any buildings that may still be standing.
Yes, our country needs help. People are living on the streets here. Mark is telling their stories, one family at a time. He is galvanizing others to action. I guess my little brain wanted immediate – and permanent – answers for these people. What we need in America are long-term solutions, not short-term bandaid fixes. What Haiti needs, however, is immediate help. There are more than a hundred thousand people feared dead. Many, MANY thousands are trapped, and missing. No one has food, water or shelter. Bodies are being dumped into piles on the side of the streets, so that rescue workers can concentrate on hopefully finding survivors.
I am a horrible person for not knowing anything about a situation, and still making assumptions about it. I learned years ago to always search for truth… backed up with facts. The facts in Haiti are plain to see. My heart breaks just thinking about it.
This country, already so poor and riddled with problems, may never recover. With this amount of devastation, it will be many, MANY years before the city of Port Au Prince will be able to even begin to rebuild properly. Any thoughts of full recovery during this generation is unrealistic. It is staggering – and sobering – to sit here in my warm home and attempt to picture it.
Please, if you can help, I urge you to do so. Relief efforts need supplies, people and money. Even if you don’t have a dime to spare, your thoughts and prayers will go a long way.
Tags: aid, death-toll, disaster, earthquake, haiti, haiti-earthquake, poverty, red-cross, relief-effort, survivors
January 14th, 2010 at 2:12 am
You’re not a bad person. You are human. People will give time and money to a cause that speaks to them and makes them feel better. People who don’t have a dime for the homeless hopped have $25 for a manicure or $thousands for fancy cars and hopped on the HAITI bandwagon. Unfortunately, our hungry, tired, and poor can not put their NEEDS on hold until they become more popular. We see the need all the time and are immune to it: making it cool to help your neighbors will lead to the solution.
January 14th, 2010 at 2:16 am
Oh, dear, Kat, you are hardly horrible for having a life and Things That Need Your Attention. Sometimes, you need to focus close by. The Haitians are not being ignored. There’s an air craft carrier, the Carl Vinson, on it’s way. The hospital ship COMFORT will be there ont he 22nd (she can’t go any faster). There are search and rescue teams leaving from March AFB in Riverside as we type. Orange County is sending 80 people and dogs who are trained for SAR. People from all over the WORLD are rallying to the aid of one small island devastated by a quake that was way too big and way too close.
I went and splurged on ME today. Drove all the way up to Spencer’s in Arroyo Grande for some corn dogs, burritos and they make the awesomest turkey noodle casserole. AND they had boneless pork country style ribs for NINETY-NINE cents a pound. I bought seven pounds. Cost just over 21 bucks. Should I have spent it, maybe not. Was it worth every penny? Oh, Yes! Could I have given that money to the Red Cross, of course. But, it would still leave me short on the car insurance that was due on the 3rd.
I know that my five or twenty bucks might make a difference, but I _know_ that there are other people who are in a position to help.
January 14th, 2010 at 2:44 am
You are not a horrible person, Kat. The reality is, that some people are in the same mindset, and don’t change their perspective after reading news articles. You, however, do your research before writing, and do not let you emotions drive your article in a single direction.
The world we live in has many problems about it, and action needs to be taken. The problem with that is, each country wants to focus on it’s own people in the long run, but I don’t think that will bring about the results we are looking for. Every country has it’s flaws, which means many people need help and I believe the only way to achieve a solution is collaboration between everyone, with a common goal in mind. Helping each other is should play a key part in bringing about a world we want, free of starvation, crime and the many other problems that plague other nations daily.
Haiti is in more dire need of help, and needs it as soon as possible. Many other problems such as hunger have been around for a very long time, and there is no immediate solution to it. And again, I think helping Haiti out would be more effective if everyone banded together, and helped. As can be seen by simple day-to-day websites, such as Twitter, a single person can start a message, and with a little team effort, it can become viral and spread to many thousands of people surfing the internet.
Just my two cents.
January 14th, 2010 at 4:29 am
[...] of us who are not in Haiti are scrambling, trying to figure out what we can do to help. Not knowing what we can do often leads us to do nothing at all. In my opinion, this is not an [...]
January 15th, 2010 at 1:51 am
we humans from all over the country needs to help people in haiti by all means,we in INDIA really want to help them,suggest me quick ways to provide help to them…
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Have you ever considered adding more videos to your blog posts to keep the readers more entertained? I mean I just read through the entire article of yours and it was quite good but since I’m more of a visual learner.