as hourly updates of the haiti earthquake circulate (the tv's been blaring from my kitchen all day), my heart breaks a little more each time i hear words such as "death toll", "homeless", or "relief donation scams." a 7.0 earthquake is not the same in california as it is in haiti. this is the poorest country in the western hemisphere (80% of the population is under the poverty level). these people are no strangers to tribulation and misfortune. a situation such as this combined with a corrupt government and an unadaptable country does not look promising for haiti. the whole world is holding it's breath and hoping for the best, wondering how resilient a country can be, one that has no shape to spring back to. world leaders suspect this tragedy will be detrimental to haiti in the future.
and yet...
amidst all the heartbreak and tears, the confusion and casualties, a single thought sounds and resounds in my mind. tragedies like this prove the goodness of humanity. whether it be an earthquake or a school shooting, it doesn't matter. in a devastating situation where lives are lost and hope for a future looks dim, barriers are taken down, differences are forgotten, and we all unite in a single cause. mankind always pulls through to help those who can't help themselves. governments are dishonest, greedy, and try to get ahead of other nations. people are selfish, gluttonous, and seek money for themselves. but when an earthquake shakes the foundations (literally and figuratively) of a poor, helpless island with no future in sight, our pride and self-serving tendencies are stripped away from us, and we are all just human beings again, fighting for a purpose.
the dominican republic, a country that shares the same small island as haiti and has had centuries-long issues with it, has now opened it's borders to civilians looking for a place to stay. they have shipped thousands of meals and medical supplies to port-au-prince, the site of the earthquake. president obama has declared an "aggressive effort to save lives." although america certainly has economic issues of it's own, obama has announced $100 million dollars will be put into a haiti relief fund. other countries offering monetary relief are belize, brazil, china, chile, spain, canada, israel, iceland, ireland, morocco and the united kingdom. even more countries have sent over rescue and assessment crews to haiti to see how they can best utilize their resources to help relieve the crisis. airlines are organizing relief flights and offering sky miles to customers who donate to aid organizations. over $5 million dollars have been raised by red cross via text messages and social media donations. "it has shattered any record that we've seen with mobile giving before," a red cross representative said. "people text up to three times at ten bucks a pop. you're talking about 300,000 people actually spontaneously deciding 'i can spare ten bucks for this.' and that's remarkable." thousands of tons of food have been airlifted to port-au-prince, so much so that many aircrafts are currently circling the city; there's not enough room for all the rescue aircrafts.
the overwhelming sense of unity is bone-chilling to me. how sad that it only surfaces in times of severe loss, but it's there. yes, these times are dark and dreary and at times, there seems to be no hope for the future, but like one of my favorite songs by john mayer says "i know the heart of life is good." the following is a favorite movie scene of mine. i think you'll recognize it.
sam: it's like in the great stories, mr. frodo, the ones that really mattered. full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? how could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? but in the end it's only a passing thing, this shadow. even the darkness must pass. a new day will come, and when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer. those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. but i think, mr. frodo, i do understand. i know now folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. they kept going because they were holding onto something.
frodo: what are we holding onto, sam?
sam: that there's good in this world, mr. frodo, and it's worth fighting for.
what i'm trying to say is we can't lose faith in humanity! because there is good in this world, and it's worth fighting for. just like we're fighting for haiti. to donate to relief funds, text "haiti" to 90999 ( $10 will be charged to your phone bill) or visit one of these websites below.
Well I'll tell you what, Rachael Claire.... .The world is definitely a better place with you in it. Now go out and make a difference... but first go and clean your room! Mom
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